I never expected this post to blow up!
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Iām a lot like you - I tend to take photos in one park in Winnipeg, so donāt see rare things. I did see a couple of Osprey which are not common in the city. https://inaturalist.ca/observations/53963535
I also saw a Red-bellied Woodpecker which is not common this far north. https://inaturalist.ca/observations/17772240
So, nothing special, but interesting all the same!
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An orchid, Epidendrum gelisii, was new to science recently. Eric Hagsater described it and named it after me, yahoo!
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Iāve seen a lot of rare plants here in east Texas. Not sure which one(s) are the rarest. So I guess Iāll look at the endangered species list and see which of them Iāve seen.
Apparently none of the rare plants Iāve seen are rare enough to be federally listed. Iāve seen quite a few endangered birds though:
Piping Plover
Florida Grasshopper Sparrow
Florida Scrub-Jay
Red-cockaded Woodpecker
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I suppose this is the rarest Iāve seen; Socorro Isopod
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/5274530
Federal Endangered. The entirety of its occupied habitat could easily fit inside an average-sized house.
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In terms of endangerment, it goes to this scalloped hammerhead I caught two years ago (I also didnāt know about shark regulations in FL at the time; Iāve learned my lesson since). Sadly at the time I caught it the species was listed as Endangered, and itās since downgraded to Critically Endangered
But in terms of things not often seen on iNaturalist, it goes to this Spanish flag we caught on a charter boat, which as of yet only has one recorded observation: me
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My rarest find is a rotifer, Stephanoceros fimbriatus ssp. millsii. No previous observations on iNaturalist and few references I can find in other literature. The location was Antonelli Pond in Santa Cruz, CA. I have sampled this pond several times over the past year but this is the first time I have observed this critter.
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Did you receive confirmation that itās indeed that species? If it hasnāt been seen in that long, Iām sure the NYS Natural Heritage program would love to know.
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And it seems to have attracted a lot of first-time posters, which I think is really cool!
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Wow, itās hard enough to find any caecilian, much less one with a teeny tiny range. Well done!
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Very nice! Iām a bit further south, and have a Piedmont site with coastal plain affinities that has P. nuttallii and the northernmost station for P. curtissii (and a little bit of Rhexia).
The author of the Polygala treatment for Nacziās āNew Manualā is on iNat and was very helpful with ID and friendly.
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Not a rare species but rare on iNat
Household Fungus Beetle: mine was the 1st on iNat, now 1 of 3 obs: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/9720065
Gall wasp Eumayria longipennis: if ID is correct, only one on iNat: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/40597967
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A few years ago I also encountered a Polyergus lucidus queen, and the situation in which I encountered it was odd. She was outside a nest inhabited by fellow P. lucidus, which were still crawling around following a raid on a nearby Formica nest. She crawled towards the nest entrance and the P. lucidus workers immediately killed her.
Didnāt get any pics of the queen back then, although more recently I did post the first observation of this species: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/16901832
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Maybe not the rarest in Singapore where I live (listed as Uncommon/Endangered I think), but a lone globally critically-endangered Straw-headed Bulbul (Pycnonotus zeylanicus) that just so happened to appear in front of me is probably my rarest (and proudest) find :)
The observation is here: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/45761824
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In the late 1980s and early 1990s I would hike Hoosier Pass Ridge in Colorado up to 12,200ft. There somewhere in the thousands of acres of alpine meadow I searched out a patch about 75 ft x 150 ft that held the only armeria maritima siberica in Colorado. I found them year after year, would count the flowers, note the general health of the population, take pics then report to the Dept. of Interior.
Havenāt been up there in a couple decades.
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Iāve been here for about a year and the rarest thing Iāve seen is a Northern Map Turtle here in WV
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Painted Wood Fly - Blera pictipes. I donāt know if it is rare. There isnāt much on the species, but it is the only observation of this species on iNat Canada. Thanks to edanko for ID,
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Probably my pocket gopher or the southern plains bumblebee (which another user had to ID for me, Iām not good at bees). Both are well under 1,000 observations. But I donāt think Iāve got anything where Iām the only or even one of a few dozen observers.
Is there not a project for this? (in part?)
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/the-search-for-lost-species
I try and keep track for southern Africa here: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/extinct-in-the-wild/journal/14609-extinct-plant-species-in-south-africa
and also undescribed species: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/undescribed-species-and-taxa
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