You are reminding me that I include what plant a gall or leafminer is found on in the notes.
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I comment if I have relied on the CV suggestions. Now, bear in mind, I donāt just pick the top one; I do checke them visually to find the best match, and I see if the CV gives the same suggestion for several images of the same observation. Still, I feel that mentioning the CV use is important.
One thing that I donāt understand is people who note the weather or temperature when observing a plant. For some species, that might affect whether a flower opens or closes, but its not going to affect whether the plant is in that place at that time. For insects, it makes more sense.
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I cannot answer for everyone but we have a number of species here that are triggered by rain (rain trees, rain lilies) .
We also have species here that do specific things during specific weather seasons, like Ceibas who lose their leaves in dry season then flower and fruit (there is a circle I pass frequently with a wonderful statue of Xtabay in it and of course a Ceiba in the middle of the statue and currently fruit hanging low).
When it turns VERY hot, the fruit pop open, releasing a cottony substance called kapok, which houses the seeds, and these go everywhere and in places look like snow.
So that is why sometimes for plants I might note the weather.
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Oh yes it is called Notes. I have no idea why I always thought it was called Descriptions!
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It depends on how important I think the observation could be. I will put in more effort if I have a good set of photos and intend to use it as reference or if the subject is rare.
Other times I just need to say something.
These are the categories I might include:
Habitat: If it is not obvious from the photos, I will comment on the environment. Stream, spring or a bog on a usually dry hillside; floodplain or bank of a waterway; type of rock a plant is growing on. I mention soil type sometimes.
Declaration: When there are multiple potential subjects, I just say which one is the observation for.
Features: Anything that cannot be documented by a photo. Smell is helpful for Correa, Cymbopogon and Anthoxanthum. Describing how flexible, soft or sticky a plant can be important, too.
Anything that my photos donāt show well, either due to photo quality or a messy picture that needs interpretation.
Measurements in the 25 - 125 cm range. Anything smaller, I can show against a ruler or my hand; anything bigger or longer shows up against the landscape.
Sometimes I forget to take photos of important features, these go in the comments.
Project Notes: I report the number or estimated number of specimens for orchids only, also comment on orchids taken and whatās left after.
Messages to other people viewing the observation - iNat is a community after all.
Sometimes I add detailed instructions how to find the subject if I think it might be useful for someone.
It could be a just a generic comment.
I do not identify the subject in the notes. It could be wrong and editing notes takes more time than editing comments.
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I normally donāt write much unless itās a type of fungi. So Iāll write the forest type, if itās growing at the base of a tree, clustered or solitary, etc.
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Yes! Some mycorrhizal fungi are only found on conifers, others only on hardwoods. Some even specialize further. The kind of trees nearby can be a trait used in identification.
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Here are some of mine:
Most of them have five petals, but at least one has four.
The dusty place is the edge of the floor.
This is a burl. What caused it? The tree is at https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/263134292 .
The briar, not the tree. Smilax?
The GPS pole is not at the coordinates; thatās just where I parked it. The point is to the left of the pole in the first picture.
The closest foreground trunk on the ground appears to be a hickory too, but this is a reobservation of the tree in https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/249741493, which is the background tree which has its root at the right side of the picture, rises at an angle, and levels off to nearly horizontal.
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Alot of my observations are on my own 3 acre property. So, I will note where I found it ānear the creekā, āIn east fieldā or āoutside the fenceā so I know here I found it. It doesnt help anyone else, I know, but helps me.
To make myself a better observer, I am now trying to note the species of tree it was found on or which flower the bee was visiting, etc. If in a park, was it near the trail or near the parking lot, etc.?
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I donāt know if you use observation fields but you should consider using Interaction->Visited flower of for this
and check out the other āinteractionā observation fields https://www.inaturalist.org/observation_fields?order=asc&order_by=created_at&q=interaction->
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How can i email these forum comment sto myself or save them in a document?
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you could copy them and paste them into an email to yourself or a word processing document
you can also copy a link to a comment by clicking
symbol
or you can click the 3 dots and then the
symbol to bookmark for later and be reminded
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