What are the observations others are making?

General
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Hi, completely new here.
I am seeing other users add observations on my own, but no comments, only a tag “supporting”. Does this mean someone has concurred with my identification ? Should I be making these on others, if so where do I see observations of others and how would I add observations ?
I have reviewed tutorials but could not find anything related to this.
Is there a COMPLETE newbie guide on how to get started ?

Thank you

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Try this ?

https://help.inaturalist.org/en/support/solutions/folders/151000552105

Find your way and settle in first?
Then help us to ID observations from others.
Your observation is getting identifications (IDs) from others. They may agree or disagree, or push back to a broader taxon.

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Right now, post observations and pay attention to the identifications and comments you get from other iNatters. Pay attention to your dashboard, in other words. iNaturalist is a big complicated website. Few of us know everything about how it works and most of us pick it up a little at a time.

When you feel like identifying observations for others, use the “Identify” tab on your dashboard. Stick to the rule that you identify (or agree) only as far as YOU can identify THIS PICTURE from your own knowledge or from comparing the photo to field guides or other sources of information. Be ready to explain your identification if asked or to withdraw it if you decide you were wrong. (We all make mistakes; don’t fret about that. I’ve withdrawn some 10,000 identifications over the past few years, maybe half of them, maybe a lot more than that, due to errors.)

Identifiers rarely explain our identifications because we make so many ID’s and so few observers seem to care about the reason. If you want an explanation, ask! Most of us are thrilled to explain to somebody who actually cares.

I’d write “Supporting” when, for example, you’ve posted Swainson’s Thrush and I want to encourage you so I say “Thrush” (because I don’t know how to ID your observation to species) and I want to be sure you know I’m not disagreeing with you, just agreeing as far as my knowledge will let me.

Welcome to iNaturalist.

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Welcome to iNat!

First, I’ll echo what others users have said- don’t worry about figuring everything out, and don’t worry too much about making mistakes. I was using iNaturalist for years before I really got the hang of it, and I made lots of mistakes at first.

Some quick starter tips:

  • There are three ‘types’ or ‘ratings’ of observations on iNaturalist- Research Grade, Needs ID, and Casual. An observation is Research Grade if the species ID has been verified/confirmed by another user, the organism is wild (not a pet or garden plant), and all the metadata (date, location) is accurate. An observation is Needs ID if all the metadata is correct, and the organism is wild, but it has not been verified by another user yet. An observation is Casual if the organism is not wild, or if any of the metadata is missing or inaccurate. Casual observations get very little attention and cannot become Research Grade, so if you are hoping for other users’ input, it’s best to check that the data and location are recorded and accurate.
  • Other users will add identifications to help push observations into the Research Grade category. When a user adds an identification to your observation, and it is the same as yours but without a comment, they are indeed agreeing with your identification. Some users make hundreds of identifications a day, and it would take a lot of time to add a comment every time. We’re not trying to be rude, we’re just trying to help many people quickly. If you’d like, feel free to leave a comment asking them to explain their identification. But please don’t feel slighted if you don’t get a response right away. When a user is very active on iNat, sometimes questions and comments get lost in a sea of notifications.
  • If a user adds an identification that disagrees with your identification, it is helpful to reconsider your identification. If you still think your identification is right, you can leave a comment explaining why. If you no longer think your identification is correct, you can either agree with the other user’s identification or withdraw your own ID. This is helpful because otherwise, in order for the observation to reach Research Grade, more users have to come along and add their IDs until a consensus (3/4ths-ish majority) is reached.
  • If you don’t have time to check on your observations, or if you don’t care all that much whether an observation reaches Research Grade, then don’t worry about it too much. Everybody uses iNaturalist in their own way, and we’d rather you enjoy iNaturalist instead of getting stressed out about it.
  • iNaturalist can be accessed either through the apps, or through the website. Each option gives you access to different features- I personally like to make observations through one of the apps, and do anything/everything else on the website. On the website, it is much easier to manage your observations, explore around and see what other people are posting, and to help identify others’ observations.
  • On the website, you can find others’ observations either through the ‘Explore’ tab or the ‘Identify’ tab.
  • The Explore tab is more useful if you’d just like to see what other users are posting. You can move around a map, search for certain species, and see a list of the most-observed species in an area. You can add filters to answer specific questions. For example, ‘which marsupial species am I most likely to see on my vacation to Tasmania in July?’ or ‘where in Germany should I go if I want to see this particular species of bird?’.
  • The Identify tab is more useful if you want to help other users out by adding identifications to their observations. It defaults to showing you only observations in the Needs ID category, but you can change this to see Casual and/or Research Grade observations. There are more search filters here than in the Observations tab.
  • It is always appreciated if you help identify other users’ observations. There are far fewer users who identify observations than those who make observations, and there is a long backlog of observations in the Needs ID category. However, I would agree with others that it would be best to wait until you’re more comfortable with iNaturalist before you begin adding identifications. When I first started using iNaturalist, I started trying to identify other users’ observations and I quickly learned that I didn’t know nearly as much about species ID as I’d thought. In other words, my identification was usually wrong and I embarrassed myself. But I have learned a lot since joining and I am now both more cautious and more confident about making IDs.

I can’t think of anything else. Hopefully these tips answered your questions and maybe gave you a little extra information. I’m happy to share more tips! And others can feel free to contradict or add on to some of my tips.

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Thank you all for the lovely welcome. I am already active on eBird, and hope to expand this to other areas of nature via iNaturalist. The information provided is exactly what a newbie needs so I am a little surprised I could not find a newbie forum with all this !!
Anyway, I have already reviewed everything sent and can hopefully become a good active citizen as a result :smiling_face_with_sunglasses:

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Welcome, @Thegeezer9999!

I have nothing to add, really; @calvertm, @sedgequeen, and @DianaStuder have pretty much covered everything. (I’ll just add that @sedgequeen and @DianaStuder are both amazing people and really helped me learn how to navigate the site when I first started out.)

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I have (today) come across one thing, happy to post separately but I think someone on here will have the answer. Using iphone app, I identified plant using ai camera then took non-ai camera photo - all good. But I remembered that multiple photos are better for an observation, but was then stuck in same trap. Take second photo and it wants to create new observation !! Grrr

I finished up taking photos with iphone camera but now have to try and match those to correct observation. Since I made multiple observations and took multiple additional photos, this becomes more precarious and error likely than had i been able to assign additional photos to existing or newly created observation.

I am sure this was in the faqs somewhere but damned if I could find it ?

Thank you

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see https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/remove-duplicate-observation-in-app/68127/10

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It sounds like you’re using the newer iNaturalist app, which was only released relatively recently. I think they’re still working out some of the finer details to make the app more user friendly, although I have not used it since it was first released so I’m not sure how much it has changed. I just re-installed it to see if I could figure things out.

It seems that after you’ve made an observation, you can add additional photos by tapping on the observation, then tapping the edit (pencil) icon in the top right. From there, you’ll see the photo you already took at the top of the screen, next to a box with a plus sign inside of it. If you tap that box, you’ll have options to either take additional photos or to add photos from your phone’s camera roll.

Personally, I would suggest also downloading the iNat Classic app and seeing which one you prefer. It has fewer features, but I think it’s easier to use. You can follow the exact same directions as above to add additional photos to an observation in the older app.

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I will try this in future, but seems strange that you have to go through that rigmarole before you can add additional photos - the chance to take multiple photos could well be lost by the time you do this ?

I am now trying to add additional photos to an observation via the website but again struggling to work out how to do this ? If this were possible it might be a nice alternative way to do this ? I usually clear all the photos from my phone straight away and upload to laptop to avoid clutter.

EDIT : Tried what you suggested and seems to work really well ! You have to remember to hit the REFRESH button so that it uploads the changes once you have added the new photos.

Off now to see if i can work out how to do this from the web page !!

Thank you

Thank you

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You can also press and hold on the AI Camera button to see all observation options.

Alternatively, you can turn on Advanced Mode in the Settings to always see all observation options.

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OK so on the web page it is really easy. You don’t even have to edit the Observation, just open it, and by the photo, the is a small plus sign, hit that and upload.

Note that it has a 20MB maximum limit, and does not at this time accept Apple standard format (.HEIC)

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It is even easier than that on the webpage. Just drag and drop!! I learnt that here on the forum a few weeks ago!

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Welcome to iNat @Thegeezer9999

I suggest you aim for high quality observations. This link may help:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1P1s45FU2e7gkxJ-S31jb_N_2m6Ytuaq-/view

Consider your observation of Lythrum salicaria. It is one good photo of the habit of the plant. It would have been improved considerably if you had included a close up of the flower, both front on and laterally and close ups of leaves and stem.

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I was writing “Confirming on genus level” but yours is neater.

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I recommend using the website for all of your uploading, if that’s practical for you. There’s a green Upload button in the upper right corner of your homepage. Using the batch uploader accessed from there, you can add multiple observations at once, and easily add multiple photos to the same observation using drag-and-drop or the Combine button.

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Hi Ruth, this was either an early or out of character obs for me, I now do my utmost to obtain minimum two different views - especially if a plant (leaves, flower, stem) but I appreciate all feedback while I am picking this up !!

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