I have a hummingbird obs that’s been up for 48 hrs with no IDs. I keep triple checking it really has a date and location because I can’t believe no one has put an ID in!
3 Likes
It doesn’t matter, those are being reviewed, but no id added, I’m sure in it. I have 10+ Herring Gull obs without RG, most are obvious.
2 Likes
I would like to add that it sure would be nice if iNat gave credit for when we correctly ID our own observations after the ID gets it’s research grade designation. I do ID a great many of my own observations, but it doesn’t count toward my observation numbers.
5 Likes
I currently have 1.5 times identifications as observations. Most of the IDs have come in a few periods of overconfidence. I want to be able to help others learn, so I have tried a few schemes to organize IDing–checking a number of other’s observations of the same species I’ve just observed, or following all the observations in my county, or picking a species that I am familiar with and following that wherever it is submitted. But then someone who knows more than I do goes through my IDs for others and finds embarrassing mistakes, and my confidence plunges…I hate to mislead someone, or to make more work for other IDers. Meanwhile, I still have thousands of my own photos I haven’t even processed yet, so I go back to that…
5 Likes
I suspect as the volume of submitted records continues to grow, and the ratio of identifers to submitters remains rather low, that even good identifiable bird records will take longer to get a review. Might take more than ~15 minutes on average to get an ID agreement on a bird from someone.
3 Likes
It’s really not that big a deal to be wrong! I know the forum gets heated about this sometimes, but really IDs are more of a suggestion or opinion than official ruling. The observer should always do their own investigation, and if any researcher wants the data, it’s up to them to compensate for potential inaccuracies.
People are starting to react to me like I’m an expert because I do so many IDs, but I just have a bachelor’s degree and a handful of guide books/keys that I study. A few of the plants I’ve ID’d I have never/rarely seen in person, but if the photos are good and the books seem pretty clear…
13 Likes
Never worry about making mistakes, only worry about missing those learning opportunities! But I also worry that my “tentative” ID might be “Agree”'d with by those that blindly agree, so I always put “I think” or some such comment to hopefully encourage the "Agree"er to look closer and make their own assessment.
8 Likes
But 15 min is nothing, other groups have to wait for months to be reviewed. I feel it clearly when look at my Steatoda sightings, observations added in “similar observation set”, most have everything you need to id it to species, but all are of a known individual, and no id for 3 months. Well, even Vespula vulgaris quite well seen on photos doesn’t get an id since October. And some people are waiting for years, and for not some blurry photos.
3 Likes
I generally prefer to observe, but I really appreciate all of the IDs I get! As such, I try to keep a 2:1 ID:obs ratio, so that I can feel like I am contributing to the community. I try to focus my IDs on unknowns and specific geographic regions. I also find it fascinating to find unusual observations and investigate (google excessively) what they might be. I think IDing is a great way to learn about different species.
7 Likes
Welcome to the forum :)
2 Likes
I had to look this up before voting
about 1/1 bought my ID are mostly very basic identifications of common species or high taxon rank IDs
1 Like
Agreed, 15 minutes is nothing. Birds usually get identified very quickly but I was joking a little that it might now take longer (30 minutes?) as more and more records are submitted. Some taxa like plants might take years.
2 Likes
I get it, just was noting that other groups can’t get slower because it’s not possible to be slower.)
2 Likes
I agree with you. I recognize a lot of plants (early programming from my Grandpa) and I’m starting to learn more about critters in general. I will often attempt to identify an “unknown” regardless of where in the world it may be. Who knew that so many plants growing in South Korea also are cultivated in South Carolina. On occasion, I’ve had to withdraw my ID’s but that is usually because an expert has followed after me. However, I think that my accuracy has greatly improved from when I first joined.
3 Likes
I’m curious what things you find most frustrating about the Identify page on the website?
I agree that as an amateur it’s hard to get started on confidently ID’ing other people’s observations. But I find that the Identify page gives me some pretty good tools to do that.
For example, I can pick a species I’m familiar enough with to feel confident about. Maybe then I’d look at what observations have been made for that genus in the broader surrounding area to get an idea of what the similar species might be. That could be a good point to consult a reference to know what distinguishing characters to watch out for.
Armed with that, I can set Identify to look just for that species in my local area, and confirm IDs for a few previously ID’ed observations. Then I might back out to a higher level (genus, family, etc.) and/or a broader area. If I find some I don’t feel confident about, I can do more research or just leave them for others.
I can also use the computer vision to see if that comes up with other possibilities I haven’t thought of.
I would agree that trying to ID on the mobile app can be challenging unless you already have strong knowledge of a group of species. But the website Identify page works well for me, so I’m curious to know what’s not working so well for you.
5 Likes
Thanks everyone for the information you’ve contributed so far! I’ve enjoyed reading about all your different obs/IDs ratios. I think that the community atmosphere is one of the best parts of the iNaturalist platform!
5 Likes
I knew I was heavily leaning toward IDs, but didn’t realize quite how much. I calculated it and it’s right around 110:1.
I pretty much only ID birds because that’s what I enjoy and am good at. But don’t really bother with North American birds since those will get plenty of IDs anyway. What I really enjoy is Asian birds since they’re my favorite birds anyway and it can take a quite awhile for IDs especially from some of the smaller countries.
5 Likes
I know embarrassing mistakes are no fun… but I think they are fine. They don’t really make more work for others, and sometimes it’s a useful tool to get someone to look at something they might otherwise miss. I’ve been known to stick a risky ID on something just so an expert in that something will take a look at it.
The crucial part is that you go back and fix it or withdraw when someone else corrects you. If you just put a risky ID on something and let it go then that’s really annoying as others ID your incorrect stuff. But I don’t think anyone expects everyone to be correct all of the time.
For a while I was even thinking that, as I learn, I should go back through all my IDs and see if I have second thoughts. But now that the number has topped several thousand, I think it’s impossible, so I only correct ones that show up on my dashboard. Or if I know I’ve been routinely making a mistake, I try to sort for that particular mistake.
13 Likes
I’m almost 2:1 on observations:identifications. I fall into the camp of not wanting to make mistakes on IDs and many of those I do make are just moving along observations that are “unknown” into a broader category. I do make some moth and bird IDs though, and hope to keep doing more of those. I sure do appreciate every little bit of help I get with identifying my observations.
6 Likes
6382 IDs for 13 Obs… My ratio is 490!
Mainly because I take very few pictures (not at all in natura), and therefore I post very few obs…
Far from the ratio of jwshultz, my grandmaster, with 1446 IDs for… 0 Obs
2 Likes