It’s always hard to choose, but here are a few that stand out for me - a golden sawfly, a dew-covered fungus, and a bromeliad frog.
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Most impressive plant: Dragon Blood Tree on Socotra
Endemic to Dominican Republic: Bay-breasted Cuckoo
Most impressive overall: Bubble-net feeding Humpback Whales
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Will stretch mine to 4 since I ID a lot of Unknowns
Two big mysteries
Medusa’s head with Fibonacci snakes is the ongoing global minds mystery
Madagascan silk angel is eye candy. And it is a moth 
From my own obs
This one held me spellbound - why is there a bird mouse-walking among the berries high up on that shrub?!
Most observed spider in Cape Town is the one that turned me to IDing local spiders. Was too tired to keep up with my group that day, so I took a break with my spider companion.
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Fun topic! Here are the 3 I selected (though my favorites vary by mood and season).
Best First:
First time we saw the local bobcat come calling:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/104584150
We were equally thrilled each time the cat showed up around the house, but the first time is always special, eh?
Most Amusing:
Vulture’s Roadside Diner:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/114863814
…”I’ll have an order of fresh roadkill with a side of flies, please”
Most Unexpected and Exciting (and Most Hazardous):
Leather Star
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/122392909
I wore the wrong shoes to the tidepools and had many dangerous slips and near falls (getting too old for this stuff!)
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Most Awesome:
This one is from December 2021, but it was such a cool experience I had to include it.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/103930353
Most Rewarding:
I heard this wren singing on the other side of a marsh, so I tracked it down and waited - after a minute or so it started singing again while only about 10 feet away from me. I got some good photos, and a video that looked amazing on the camera screen but mediocre on my computer. Still a very fun experience!
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/137803634
https://youtu.be/sXMqGGf8l70
Most Unusual
A three-legged campground squirrel!
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/144943402
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Most startling to find (As I was ‘leafing’ through an alder tree it was suddenly right in front of my nose - and huge! - and also quite cute once I’d gotten over the shock!)
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/137806931
Most ‘I didn’t know that was a thing’
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/137571419
Most ‘I didn’t expect to put a species ID on that’. (According to the info I found there’s only one British Ichneumonid that parasitises Tetragnatha spiders - and it’s the first to be ID’d on iNat, except that it remains unconfirmed… and there’s now a couple more.)
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/109410454
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I was lucky to be part of many memorable wildlife encounters, so it is quite difficult for me to choose 3.
I have already mentioned a group encounter with a python and and incident with a snake down my trousers here, so here are some different observations (which happen to be all lifers, too):
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Tai-yong Keelback (Hebius boulengeri)
That’s a bad but good enough for iNat. Basically this is one of Hong Kong’s rarest snakes, very elusive, restricted in its range, and has very specific habitats. The night we found it it was raining with occasional lightning. We probably hiked up and down the mountains for over 6 hours. I was lagging at the back trying not to slip, so all I heard in front of me was the raucous cheering from the rest of the group I was basically tagging along with. That was indeed a precious night, but man was it exhausting.
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Deroca sp.
A moth that is basically transparent. Been wanting to shoot this one for a while, and it turned out to be one of the first subjects I shot with my new camera setup! -
Red-breasted Merganser (Mergus serrator)
Another top observation due to the circumstances in which it was observed. I was in Chicago to visit and catch up with a dear friend of mine, who I haven’t seen in years. We braved the windy shores of the lake and spent time just looking at the ducks and gulls that were swimming around.
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How does one pick 3? Also, for me, many of the most exciting ‘observations’ will be exciting or special because of my experience at the time - not necessarily because of the organism.
I rarely chase rare/uncommon birds for reasons. But this spring, I was birding during warbler migration at a local park where a rare (for my area) Western Tanager had been seen. I was just about to head along the path to take me where it had been spotted earlier when I spied a Downy Woodpecker (very common for area). I got up my camera to get a quick shot when a bird flew in and landed on a branch just feet from my head… the Western Tanager. I am never that lucky but that was a pretty lucky few days for me in general.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/116475272
This one was fun: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/118302129
I was watching a Red-bellied Woodpecker root around in a tree (unfortunately right into the late sun). It pulled something out and was surprised to find that I thought might be a baby bird it was going to eat. Instead, when I looked at them on the computer, I could see it was a frog. I figured the woodpecker just happened to find the frog but there was a report on a birding list of someone watching a RBWO caching food. So maybe it had cached it there earlier. I had no idea they ate animals larger than bugs or caterpillars.
https://www.mail-archive.com/mou-net@lists.umn.edu/msg42488.html
https://www.flickr.com/photos/fisherkingbat/52522882801
I’m not sure what I could pick for my 3rd one. Again, when I think back, it’s more about the experience. We visited the Black Hills of South Dakota which put us in a range different from my home in the Twin Cities of MN. I had a list of things I hoped to see and managed to get them all except the Big Horn Sheep. We tried for 3 days to find those, sometimes missing them by (reportedly) minutes. On our final day there, we decided to drive to one more place - Jewel Cave National Park - mostly just to get more naturing in but also to maybe see some sheep. The ranger at the park said we might find some down the road. The side road leading down to the old visitor center was closed for the year but we could park at the entrance and hike down. We got there and I was tired. We’d been hiking all day (and many days before) and it was late and I looked at that walk down the hill and I knew I’d have to hike back up later. I was ready to call it quits but my husband talked me into it. We hiked down, walked briefly in either direction at the trail that lead past the old visitor center. No sheep. We started back up to the car and I was flagging! I thought, if I hold onto my husband’s hand, I’ll have more energy. As I reached out for his hand, I looked up and there it was. A Big Horn Sheep on the hillside next to the road we were hiking up. We stood there quietly and a whole herd came down with the presumably alpha male keeping an eye on us.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/138216472
We watched for a few minutes and then skirted past them back to the car to leave them be. Another couple was hiking down to see them as we got back to the car. We sat in the car getting some water and resting a moment when two more couples showed up. I told them they could hike down if they wanted (since the gate was closed) and they said, ‘Oh, that other couple got too close and chased them away.’
So, if we’d gotten there 15 minutes earlier or 15 minutes later, we would have missed them. An observation of a Big Horn Sheep in the Black Hills is not unique or rare. But that experience was special to me since it not only capped off our trip but proved that hiking another half a mile sometimes pays off!
We retired just before COVID and couldn’t really travel (overnight) for 2 years. We took 4 extended trips this year (driving 1-2 days to destinations) and although I couldn’t point to a particular observation as being special on those trips, the memories of all of them are very special. Walking outside our motel to see the lunar eclipse then over to the marsh to listen to the Marsh Wrens in the dusk. Finding Upland Sandpipers in flooded farm fields. Asking someone if I could get a picture of their freshly caught Black Bullhead. Finding tiny little spiders in the seedheads of grasses while hiking in a misty rain. Leaving the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site Visitor Center because it made my sad and finding a wide variety of prairie grasses outside (part of the Buffalo Gap National Grasslands).
So my 3rd ‘top’ observation is them all. I would rather have the wealth of experiences we had with nature this year in nature than any single superlative.
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Very tricky to choose three! But I enjoyed scrolling back through my observations from 2022.
The first is this Caribbean Reef Octopus (Octopus briars) https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/139277846. I love seeing octopus underwater but this sighting was from a night dive and it hung around with us, hunting and posing for photos for a while.
Second, this gorgeous nudibranch (Felimare acriba) https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/129849429. Sea slugs are my favorite marine creatures (besides cephalopods) but since COVID I’ve moved to the Caribbean which has far fewer slugs. This observation was a completely unexpected surprise and also a new species for me.
Finally, this cute little jumping spider (Lyssomanes) https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/110455730. The observation recalls a fun hike with friends that I’ve since moved away from. I mostly do underwater observations but this spider was compelling because when we looked through the photos later we could see it moving and completely rotating its eyes (look closely at the second picture). I’ve just been contacted about having one of my jumping spider observations included in a paper for the second time so having one in the top three for 2022 seemed fitting!
Happy inatting for 2023 everybody!
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Choosing three was so hard! This was a really good iNat year for me, and I observed far more than I ever have before – here’s hoping 2023 is just as good!
Best Overall: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/145230413
This one’s a no-brainer. The winged celebrity herself, California’s darling, a very, very out of place Snowy Owl that has made her way down to the Los Angeles area this week. I was lucky enough to be in Torrance when a friend got a call on Tuesday that the Snowy, first seen in November on iNat and vanished without a trace for weeks, had again been spotted in Cypress. An absolute honor and a privilege to see this beautiful owl in person, a rare sight among rarities.
Most Surprising: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/141003671
It was quite a shock to see an enormous Great Egret land in my backyard this November. A far cry from the typical visitors to my birdfeeders, and it even did a trademark neck wiggle.
Personal Favorite: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/119544069
Not the best photo from a technical perspective, but an encounter I really liked to see. A juvenile harvestman and a neanurid springtail crossing paths under a rotting log. The harvestman was incredibly skittish and hurried away the moment it touched the springtail, but the neanurid was unbothered and simply trundled on.
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2022
Observation of rarest species:
Baillon’s Crake - this bird is rarely ever seen in the Cape where I live, so when not one, but several turned up at the Strandfontein Sewerage Works, I had to go check it out! Two other species would have beaten this observation if I could have made them: the Snowy Sheathbill that turned up earlier in the year (which I could not go observe as I have a day job alas), and the Eurasian Golden Oriole that I spent two fruitless mornings this past week chasing. The Baillon’s Crake is super cool though.
This year, in terms of new species lifers, I seem to have mostly landed herps (reptiles and amphibians). New species I saw in 2022 were:
- Clicking Stream Frog - I apparently had already observed this species previously, in its larval stage, but I don’t really count that one as a real lifer for some reason, maybe because I cannot tell the species if it’s in its larval form. Hence counting this observation of the adult as my first ‘real’ observation of this species
- Western Leopard Toad - although a somewhat common species in Cape Town, for several reasons I hadn’t seen any until this observation. It’s a beautiful species!
As for my favourite observation of 2022 - this is a tough one for me. I have a soft spot for the local chameleons that are native to where I live, and to see them at nighttime is a special experience. I love these little critters.
The other awesome observation is from when I made a visit to the rural coastal town of Hermanus to see these magnificent creatures: southern right whales
In second place would be this Cape Fur Seal having calamari for dinner.
In terms of a common species displaying unusual behaviour, I was surprised to see this Red-winged Starling eating leaves. I knew that other birds such as mousebirds and the famous hoatzin include leaves as part of their diet, but I had no idea starlings did it too!
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It was fun to go back and look at all of my observations from the year to choose my top three for the year. They include:
This GIANT wasp: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/129622699 - I remember it being at least 4" long for the body, and the tail was that long again.
My favorite vertebrate was a five-lined skink: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/130574058 . I know they are native to Pennsylvania, but had to travel to D.C. to see one for the first time.
My final choice is this sea slug from Antigua: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/109053673. Antigua was a lovely new place to visit this past year, and the first place we visited after Covid lockdowns.
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2022 was my first full year on iNaturalist so there are a ton of observations which could be my top 3. But I think I was able to land on these 3.
Best Photos
iNaturalist really encouraged me a get out and improve my photography. While I took many, MANY photos in 2022, the photos in this observation are some of my best work.
Looking at these photos take me back to the that warm summer day. As the sun set, a cool breeze set in and a feeling of calm washed over me. It was a beautiful moment.
https://inaturalist.ca/observations/133983354
Most Surprising
One of the most surprising things I saw this year was a Wood Duck named Buzz. He arrived at our local pond more than 2 months ago and has stayed ever since. I got to see him molt into his breeding plumage, be attacked by a hawk, and feed on a fallen goldenrod. He’s a very beautiful duck and super friendly too.
https://inaturalist.ca/observations/142415836
Most Effort
Every year, a burdock grows in our backyard. Usually, we pull it out before it can get very big. However, this year was different. I uploaded a picture of its leaves and an identifier, lallen, told me that the leaves alone wouldn’t be enough to ID to the species. I would need photos of a more mature plant. So I let the thing grow out!
Fast forward a few months, and the plant was over 6 feet tall! But the photos I had taken were still not enough for an ID. The burdock began to wilt and we cut it down, and without any more photos, I feared it would be stuck at the genus. While looking through my camera, I found that in the corner of one particular shot, the burdock could be seen! Excited, I uploaded the photo and sure enough, a species ID could be made! It was a Lesser Burdock.
I learned a lot about burdock identification from that observation.
https://inaturalist.ca/observations/112695074
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Welcome, iamnothelenmirren!
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I would drive up from San Diego to get a photo of our SoCal celebrity!
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I love everyone’s observations and stories and ENTHUSIASM!
My favorite three aren’t rare, but they were super exciting to me.
Just made me unreasonably happy when I saw it:
Coast Night Snake Hypsiglena ochrorhynchus
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/134813807
I went to one of my favorite mountain hiking spots and was taking a chance. The weather had been brutally hot all week and a big storm was imminent and the wind was picking up. I knew this snake was special when I saw it – And someone else thought so too.
https://www.inaturalist.org/posts/71219-thank-you
Thought I’d probably never get a photo:
Bobcat Lynx rufus
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/142585263
I’ve seen a few but never was able to get a photo (not great, but good enough to id to species) – something that’s been on my list.
Thought I probably would never see:
Western Banded Gecko Coleonyx variegatus
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/125276386
This elusive little guy has been on my life list since 2018. This was the first I’d seen even one though I am an avid night hiker. After this one, I observed four more in 2022!!!
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Narrowed down to about 20, then it got trickier.
For most confusion, likely my king cobra, which I thought was a krait, and I guess possibly some people gave me more benefit of the doubt before realising I was quite wrong. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/135539740
My cutest beetle would be https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/135933410
My personal fave find is this Cantuaria https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/110825102
In pic 2 it shows some of the biggest palps I have seen personally in a spider. Maybe Cantuaria mcquillani if that gets recognised?
Not one of my top threes, but in terms of rarity, I do often have species which are the single obs for inat (thanks to the IDers) like https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/943429-Dynamostes-audax but I feel for many of my singles its more people are looking for that sort of thing, in that sort of place, than specific rarity. Hard to know though for species without much data.
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I love the Wood Duck! Just a comment on the burdock observation: it would be better to upload the photos from different dates as different observations, as they don’t show what you encountered on the observation date. You can add the field “Similar observation set” to link them.
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Done!
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…if you don’t mind only one of them getting corroboration.