What is the RAREST animal/plant you have ever seen

For me, my rarest sighting ever has to be Astragalus desereticus, with less than 10,000 individuals found in a small, 50-acre patch of land in central Utah. Other sightings that are still rare but not as rare as that one are two NatureServe G2 species(Pyrgulopsis pilsbryana and Amaranthus pumilus). I have also found the only known individual of Smilax pseudochina in New York State, and a Barnacle Goose in Upstate New York that is not a rare bird worldwide, but very rare for that location(never got a photo though.)
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/81514334- Astragalus desereticus
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/61023447- Amaranthus pumilus
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/93824759- Pyrgulopsis pilsbryana
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/85526149- Smilax pseudochina

5 Likes

What an experience! Very sad to know that deforestation and fragmentation prevails in Mozambique as well. Even though this is not the best solution, but did you manage to find a few seeds, so that you can rescue it from total extinction?

2 Likes

That is incredible! Any photos you could perhaps upload to iNat as a record?

2 Likes

While visiting the Hawaiian island of Oahu in 2016 I came across a Sea Swallow being tossed around in the surf at a public beach I was swimming at. Not sure about their numbers in the wild, but Iā€™ve heard they arenā€™t often encountered.

3 Likes

Unfortunately not. It was walking along the coast of the river, and scurried under a deck when I went to take a photo.

2 Likes

I re discovered a rare and tiny chilean tomato not seen since its description in 1895 :) we are working in its redescription and finding :)
:tomato:

21 Likes

In terms of iNaturalist itself; yesterday I submitted the first observation for an ant species called Crematogaster quadriruga (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/120955248) and in April the first observation for a grasshopper species called Oxya minuta (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/113206164).

7 Likes

I think for my area itā€™s probably a peregrine falcon. They arenā€™t necessarily rare, but they are super uncommon where I live.

2 Likes

Both globally rare and locally bonkers at the same time, the famous Stellerā€™s Sea-eagle roaming Northeast North America lately: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/103438253

Otherwise, possibly the Black Rails Iā€™ve found during my current job. No observation on iNat because I donā€™t want to get fired :)

6 Likes

Mineā€™s a California Condor I found at Grand Canyon National Park

5 Likes

:open_mouth: Where do you live?

1 Like

Minnesota, I think thereā€™s only like 40 reported on eBird in my county and no iNat observations yet

2 Likes

Ooh Minnesota, I never thought it would be rare there.

1 Like

You can obscure the observation to hide the exact date and location. ;)

2 Likes

As I said here, Iā€™ve been in Western Mexico the last two weeks (Iā€™m now back home), and I saw some pretty neat rarities!

First, the Berylline hummingbird I saw in Zacatecas. In its normal range it is not a rare bird at all, in fact they are very common in urban West and Central Mexico (theyā€™re the second most observed hummie on iNat in Mexico). But in Zacatecas itā€™s a pretty rare bird. Itā€™s estimated range only covers a small fraction of the state, but on ebird there are ZERO observations of that species for the state, and only ONE on iNat. And the funniest thing about the sighting is that I stayed a good while in Guadalajara where it is supposed to be VERY common, but I didnā€™t see any there. Then I went to Zacatecas and saw it the first day of my staying!

Another one was the spotted wren, a bird with a ā€˜ā€˜variable abundanceā€™ā€™ endemic to Mexican highlands. It can get very common in some areas, but it is also pretty rare in Zacatecas where I saw it, with only THREE iNat observations for the state and ZERO on eBird. I remember seeing him assuming it was a cactus wren, which is supposed to be very common there (I wasnā€™t very familiarized with the wildlife over there so sorry for my random guesses) and I remembered itā€™s color pattern very well and took some (terrible) photos. Back home I searched for cactus wren photos online, and saw they looked nothing like my bird. I searched for every Campylorhynchus species found in Mexico and the spotted wren is the only one that matches PERFECTLY.

I also saw some pretty rare saturniid moths and beautiful beetles.

2 Likes

I live in Colorado but I went to the Grand Canyon that summer. Some other rare birds are Northern Shrike, Brown Thrasher (at least, In my area), and a Black-throated Green warbler in my area

3 Likes

woah!! awesome find!! Glaucus atlanticus is such a cool species!

Iā€™ve never heard it called a Sea Swallow before though, before I clicked on the link to the observation I thought you meant a type of bird!

2 Likes

For things native to my area, Iā€™d say the nudibranchs Cumanotus beaumonti and Armina loveni, both are listed as rather rare by our resident authority on nudibranchs. Both were observed at the same dive site, one of my regular ones.

For things that probably got lost and ended up here, iā€™d have to put the Zeus faber i observed on a night dive in 2019 at the same dive spot as the two nudis (honestly, i am starting to think this spot attracts weird species, most of the rarer species observations iā€™ve done is on this spot)

3 Likes

Exactly what I thought.

2 Likes

In fact, I saw my first shrikes on this trip!! I think they are fascinating birds, arenā€™t they?

1 Like