I don’t know, I never really found anything rare, except for a Dark-eyed Junco which isn’t that common where I live. And I am still mad that I was distracted with a random male Northern Cardinal even though they were already appearing a lot there and Juncos aren’t even that common!! The Junco disappeared when I looked there again.
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My personal favourite is the Carpathian Chamois (subspecies of the Northern Chamois), but my only lifer tagged as ‘endangered’ in my country:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/201237632
As well as this one:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/201385980
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I hate you right now. Just a little.
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Mine is a eurasian spoonbill, and indian hoopoe.
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Are Eurasian spoonbills rare where you live?
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Not really. They are migratory birds that aren’t found nearby. I saw them in a bird sanctuary.
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a while ago I found a habitat in northish Virginia that had the habitat for trachymyrmex septentrionalis, so I told my entomologist friend and he wanted some specimens. so when I went back to the spot, I saw army ants!(neivamyrmex nigrescens) this was the farthest north observation on the east coast, and second observation in Virginia. I still haven’t seen the colony since then. I didn’t even know they lived in Virginia at that time so it was quite the surprise. but that probably isn’t at rare as the other ant i found in va more recently, aphaenogaster mariae. they only live way high up in old oak trees and i got to find one
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Probably this Procambarus elegans, it is my only instance (so far) of having the first (and so far only) recorded individual of a species on inat. Honorable mention for this gilded river cruiser (Macromia pacifica), one of only three inat observations of the species from Texas
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In a local park, I came across a small patch of Northern Oconee Bells, and although I think that they might have been transplanted there a few decades back they’re still very endangered and only four other observations have been noted. I’d love to visit one of the actual remaining native populations sometime but I doubt they’d let a random like me visit.
Last year, I was shown one of the populations of Rose’s Heartleaf by the naturalist who first discovered them.
In terms of truly random, unexpected finds, though… I was surprised to learn that this milkvetch I snapped a quick, blurry picture of while on field camp was a species with less than twenty sightings scattered around Idaho and southern Montana. I saw plenty more just like them in the area, so I’m inclined to think they’re locally abundant but hardly anyone has bothered to catalogue them.
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I got an id on this one today - the only recorded observation. That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s rare, just small, insignificant and overlooked.
https://inaturalist-open-data.s3.amazonaws.com/photos/465915948/large.jpeg
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This Merope tuber, or forcepfly, was attracted to lights in my campsite while camping in the Hiwassee/Ocoee State Park a couple years back. I hadn’t even heard of the species at the time and mistook it for an odd moth before I started going through my photos from the trip. Seems they’re pretty uncommon in collections and have <300 observations here on iNat. I think that’s my rarest sighting so far.
I’ve also been lucky enough to find Echinacea tennesseensis, the Tennessee purple coneflower, growing wild while exploring the cedar glades. There’s a patch of endangered Collinsia verna, spring blue-eyed Mary, growing in the nature sanctuary I volunteer in, but I believe it was purposely introduced there. Still very cool to see.
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Genus Cylicomera
I saw this species from the Robber Flies Family that only has 8 global observations. It’s been only found in Argentina and Bolivia.
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My rarest obs is the Malabar trogon, with only 244 observations!
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Seen and photographed, this robber fly, Ceraturgus aurulentus. This was perhaps only the second photograph of a living individual, the first being taken in Wisconsin just a few days earlier than mine. The species is widespread in Eastern North America, but observed infrequently. The mystery goes back to the early days. It was described in 1805 and then not seen again for about 90 years. This individual (2013) was the first record in North Carolina since 1958. There have been more sightings since the increase in citizen science observers on BugGuide and iNaturalist.
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Updating my rarest species I have ever seen- as of this past December, its Isoetes mississippiensis- the Mississippi Quillwort, which is only known from two localities globally, and is Mississippi’s only known endemic plant species. my obs here: (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/254339021)
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Got my 1ers to 10
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/386016-Archaeoteleia-novaezealandiae
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/387385-Cerozodia-hudsoni
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/390107-Gynoplistia-troglophila
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/408679-Gynoplistia-ocellifera
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/943429-Dynamostes-audax
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/970570-Teleopsis-trichophoras
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/1496431-Pseudaega
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/1527590-Apolecta-diversa
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/1590895-Orthelimaea-himalayana
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/1611993-Pseudoparonellides
On my https://elias.pschernig.com/wildflower/leastobserved.html?user=sebastiandoak I also got to 100 (well 101) at less than 10 obs.
Of course its easy with inverts.
Of my 101 below 10 these are the only non invertabrates
Plants
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?verifiable=true&taxon_id=1234735
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?taxon_id=1565800&verifiable=any
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?taxon_id=904758&verifiable=any
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?taxon_id=702223&verifiable=any
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?taxon_id=606207&verifiable=any
Frogs
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?taxon_id=134793&verifiable=any
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?taxon_id=24309&verifiable=any
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?verifiable=true&taxon_id=65457 (Ranks lower when casual obs included)
Lizard
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?taxon_id=34577&verifiable=any
Fungi
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?taxon_id=1419128&verifiable=any
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?taxon_id=1530027&verifiable=any
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I had a similar encounter!
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Found potential new moth species last year that I am trying to get additional specimens this year (apparently the two I nabbed last year were not males). Getting a little worried since first time I saw them last year was 4/27 and nil so far this year. Other than that I have 2 of 3 observations on a lacewing at RG, and 2 of 3 on a moth that are not yet.
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Large-tailed Nightjar subspecies that live on Palawan. Currently the only one on iNat, but I think others from Palawan are as well, less than ten observations in that case. Also I have the only daytime photo of the bird.
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Here’s a Scarlet Snake with bonus points for being aberrantly colored.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/35607115
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