That species that you should have seen no problems, but just never find. The one that when you mention never seeing one to other local naturalists, they just go “Seriously???” Here is mine 4 years of being back in Canada, I should have seen this many times over, yet still it eludes me.

I still don’t have a Pinyon Jay, even though I live in New Mexico. Also, even though I live in a desert, I have yet to see a single scorpion or tarantula species ever.

Probably some of the common tree species in this area. There are many I have not really learned to discriminate yet.

It’s amazing how hard it is to spot a badger (at least in my experience in North America). I’ve spent a ton of time outside in grasslands and shrublands from Minnesota to Idaho, to Utah to California. I can’t remember if I saw one in real life for a split second or whether I’m just remembering a m…

sometimes I suffer from “common species blindness”, ie when things are so common that I assume that they’re already on my life list when in reality they aren’t. Teddy bear cholla was one of those things for me, one of the most common and recognizable cacti in Arizona and a species I saw literally al…

I have some embarrassingly common ones here (Cooper’s hawk? yikes): A nice way to find some of your gaps is to use the URL qualifier unobserved_by_user_id=, then plop in your username and refine to your place and taxa of interest. Also the “Missions” feature on the Android app.

I don’t keep life lists, but I would love to see a specimen of Euxoa churchillensis. Only a couple of records of it, and they are all widely dispersed. Lafontaine believes this was caused by glaciation. http://mothphotographersgroup.msstate.edu/species.php?hodges=10711

Belocephalus, Phanaeus spp. (rainbow dung beetles), probably more…

Most large species of Dynastinae and Lucanidae in my area have eluded me despite years of searching.

What is the strangest thing missing from your life list

Nature Talk

djm June 7, 2019, 3:16pm 2

For me, I’d imagine it would have to be any of the following:

Periodical cicada
Golden Eagle
Red-throated Loon
American badger

Topic		Replies	Views
Top Observed Species on iNaturalist: Which ones have you not seen? Nature Talk	93	5563	March 15, 2022
How many of the top 50 most commonly observed taxa have you seen, and do you plan on seeing the ones you haven't seen yet? Nature Talk	44	1032	May 4, 2024
Highly observed creatures you always (or always have) not observed Nature Talk	46	2286	January 12, 2022
What's on your personal wishlist? Nature Talk	93	3864	July 8, 2022
What is the one organism you wish to see in the new year? General question	28	2227	January 8, 2020

What is the strangest thing missing from your life list

Related topics