I’m sure this has been done before, but it doesn’t look like it’s been done recently. I’ll post my list if this gets off the ground. So what species are you looking forward to finding next year? Rare lifers? Familiar faces?
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I hope to find some hickories.
There’s several kinds of amphipods I’ve only seen once and would like to see again his next year.
Specifically, I’d like to see another, Spinulogammarus subcarinatus, Carineogammarus makarovi, Maera danae, and some more amphipods from the genus hyperia.
I’d also like to find some isopod species I’ve never seen, like the eelgrass isopod.
My husband bought me a trailcam, and I’m hoping to put it out somewhere remote by a forest road to see large animals like bears, maybe even bobcats and cougars. I know this is going to sound really stupid to actual researchers, but let me have this. I’m an office worker. The volunteer work I do is all slogging 20 miles up hill both ways to look for tiny 10-cm tall plants that look like nothing, so of course I’m thrilled to have a chance to see someone bigger.
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This probably can still count for 2024, as I’ll try to find it this year but also in 2025, Paropsisterna Octosignata is my personal goal
Also Hop Bush Leaf Beetle
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Very cool everyone.
Here are my top five:
- Drymarchon couperi
- Lampropeltis occipitolineata (very unlikely but I might as well try
- L. getula “brooksi”
- Farancia abacura
- Masticophis flagellum
Obviously there are a bunch more, but these are at the top of the list of those found nearby me
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I hope to be able to do more herp photography in ‘25. Not that I’m tired of birds but I started out as a herpetologist before I was corrupted by other animal taxa.
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before I was corrupted by other animal taxa
lol
Yeah, hopefully I can improve my own photography going forward
Trail cameras are great! I had one for years in high school, and I’m looking forward to getting another one. If you’ve never used a trail camera before, here’s some advice. Make sure that your camera is not pointing at a road, otherwise cars will set it off. Get the biggest SD card you can, because photos will fill it up quickly (and videos even quicker). You may want to consider putting a lock on it so no one can walk away with it, if that’s something you are concerned about. Also try not to point your camera due east or west, so that the sun doesn’t obscure the photos in the morning/evening. Make sure there are no branches or vegetation in front that could wave in the wind and set off the camera, or obscure any animals. Small clearings on a deer trail or a large log over a creek are great places to put a camera. Good luck!
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My most memorable observations this year were all lifers, species that I’d never even heard of before I uploaded my photos to iNat and found an identification for them. So my choice would have to be my unknown lifers of 2025!
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I don’t have any specifics as far as species, but I’d like to travel to do some traveling outside of my country (I’m considering a move, so a scouting trip mixed with some iNatting would be great). I’m looking at places in Canada. I suppose if that’s where I end up going, it would be cool to find a Canadian Lynx!
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I hope to see https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/64429-Calochortus-fimbriatus
Photo 20836750, (c) sraskin, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
I’ve been casually collecting Calochortus obs; got two new species this year but not sure how long I can keep up that pace before the necessary road trips get too lengthy.
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During winter here in Northeast Ohio I keep my eyes open for possible hawk nests while hiking. Now is the time to do it with no leaves on the trees.
This past summer I really enjoyed looking for pollinators - especially bees. The past two years our local parks (the Cleveland Metroparks) have had an event in August where they want us to find pollinators in the parks and post them to iNat. I spent a lot of time doing that. I was sad this past year when fall started and all the flowers slowly faded away.
While I’m an unapologetic snake-centric herper, I’m also hoping to finally get an IDable picture of a Florida Panther (only ever seen one, maybe two) and maybe get into the Florida Panhandle to target some salamander lifers. It’d also be dope to see some more scorpions and whip scorpions, since I’ve only ever found one each in FL.
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I would love to find a Lynx in 2025 because it is uncommon around where I live.
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I only made one trip to southern NM and creosote was not blooming, so I’ll repeat what I said last year.
No specific species, but I’d love finding a few polychaete lifers (which would require a trip to the sea. Not sure if that is happening). I’d also be very happy about any new (to me) copepods and lichens I can find.
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Polychaetes are awsome! Which ones do you want to see?
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Which ones don’t I want to see? Haha
A really fascinating one is Tomopteris helgolandica, and I do like the Nereididae for their cute faces. Generally I prefer the smaller ones, though, barely larger than what is typically considered Meiofauna. More of what I already observed this year, essentially
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Im open to really finding anything new! Particularly macrofungi, but arachnids and plants would be appreciated as well.
For mushrooms: (these would all be new things I’d like to find and photograph for the first time!)
~Spring:
Morchella snyderi - yummy! And morels look cool.
Psilocybe ovoideocyatidiata - mysterious (maybe not so yummy)
Boletus rex-veris - also yummy!
~Fall: there might still be time!
Cortinarius violaceus - purple (need I say more?)
Hygrocybe virescens - kinda rare, neon lime-green colored!
Entoloma nitidum - very blue
The Coccora! - pretty!
Belly-button Hedgehog - the nice big ones out on the costal forests.
There’s probably more that I’m forgetting, but whatevs.
Here’s to another great year of nature! Love yall
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