Hooray for @thomasstan and @cassia for your willingness! I am going to do your challenges in the morning; please look for them then. :)
Bring it on! 
I have the time but might struggle with mobility. If you plan to check my observations, I intend to expand my area eastwardâtowards Kirchlinteln and the more forested regions surrounding my usual observation spots.
Of course, I have my own challenges going on, as we all pursue different goals. But Iâd love to train my eyes on new thingsâjust not spiders. Animals that can jump at me are terrifying!
I donât think that looking out for something you normally wouldnât is negative in any way. Seeing more than usual can only be a good thing!
I should mention that I used to manage my observations on nabu-naturgucker before using iNat. I have roughly 600 species observed there with most of them (120) being lepidoptera. So, maybe try not to pick those, because it is likely I caught them before.
I canât link to my observations there directly because the website is old and the search filters are terrible.
My inat: iNaturalist species list
I donât ask for the dedication to register on naturgucker to search for my observation list. But feel free to PM me if you actually wanted to know details or see screenshots.
âother animalsâ (andere tiere) refers to ciliates, mostely. Not looking for a microscopy challenge though ^^
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Good morning! I will be settling in soon to begin work on these. Excited! (These are fun for me.)
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Good afternoon. Sorry for the delay, bit of a widespread power outage here, and while our fraccionamiento was not affected this time, it is sort of the âpebble in a pondâ effect as the ripples spread out, as tiny errands turn into odysseys because intersections where signals do not function are now wastelands of disorder. In any eventâŚ
@thomasstan I was prepared to issue you only challenges for Canda, thinking everything would be new to you in Sri Lanka, but I see you have been there before. What a treat for me! So I am issuing you two sets of challenges, one for there and one for there.
Canada challenges:
Sri Lanka challenges
I hope you have wonderful travels!
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The problem might not be finding them but photographing them lol
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Saludos @cassiia. I really like your iNat profile picture; it made me want to pick things you might see from your canoe.
With that in mind, try to observe the following, which I hope are feasible (New Brunswick felt large to me, so I may be way off base, unsure):
- this pretty duck who migrates away (up to you to find it in season, wheeee!)
- this summer stunner of a darner
- this froggy friend
- and if itâs not too much trouble this one too because two frogs are better than one, always
Good luck!
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Think of that like a mini-challenge within the challenge! Maybe there are posts here about photographing them â did you search?
Personally I have luck if I wait until they alight, usually on tall thin things (like young plants). Smaller ones often cling to wild grasses. I see them in evenings looking for places to overnight and in early mornings still drowsing. The enormous ones are less skittish (or maybe slower) and will sometimes land ON me.
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Saludos @IDfanatic I am just going to bumble ahead with only your iNat info. I am more than happy to honor your request to not have spiders, Lepidoptera species nor microscopy as challenges. I will try to gear toward the geographic area you indicated and to have mobility in mind.
This is all to say it is entirely possible I will fail and challenge you to see something impossible or that you have already seen and documented elsewhere. In this event, you could decide to make it your first Observation on iNaturalist, or you could say here is something else new-to-me from that genus, or you could throw that challenge to someone else.
Nonetheless, I am giving you multiple challenges in hopes at least one works for you. Whee!
- This delicate, lovely plant
- This exquisite bloom
- this flower chafer*
- another flower chafer! This one is metallic.
- this fungus that looks like it should have gnomes beneath it
*I notice at least on iNat you have few beetles. I am unsure if beetles are concerning to you because they feel like spiders (could jump), but these large flower chafers look similar to the ones we have here, which are gentle and delightful. Also they move slowly and so are easy to photograph and usually easy to spot, so I thought I would challenge you with this one since it looks so close to my own beloved one. I apologize though if this was a poor choice.
Those are great choices! The fungi are very common, but I havenât documented them anywhere yet (so I shall do so later this year). Iâll keep an eye out for Veronica, and I love the Viola suggestion. I think I saw one in our garden a few years ago, long before I âdiscovered natureâ. My mum was unable to explain what kind of plant it was, and I never saw it again. It was on my checklist for this year - I am amazed :) ! Iâve never seen the beetles.. Iâm really pleased with your selections for me - theyâre certainly not impossible. Specially the viola pick makes me very happy!!
My city has so few iNat users that almost every observation I make is the first for my area on iNat. Therefore, searching for these species will be a huge benefit - and even not finding them will provide useful information! Thank you so much. Iâll keep you all updated!
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Iâm toying with the idea of a trip to the salt marshes during CNC. I have wanted to see the Carolina marsh clam. In fact, the first time I saw the invasive Asian clam, I thought it was a Carolina marsh clam because they look so similar.
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Thank you!!
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I have observed teak defoliator, but now there is a defoliator for sandalwood as well? Have you heard of any more defoliators?
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Congratulations, you have found the least educated person at iNaturalist to ask, I think! I know there are others but I am not at all sure of any that are specific in what they defoliate. I believe I have read that this one is quite damaging.
@trickman posted gorgeous photos of Aspen trees on the âshow us your yellowsâ thread and when I looked at his profile, I noted he works for the Forestry Service. Perhaps he knows more? (He certainly could not know less.)
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Here are some more;
- A defoliator that I might just be able to see here
- Another one that I might find, (but seriously, they like Thailand more)
- Because lantana is everywhere, so is this moth
Hi @ItsMeLucy. Thank you for the kind words on the aspen photos. There are a few defoliators in California forests, A couple links - Defoliators | California Forest Pest Council, Defoliators
Cheers!
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Wow, Iâm honored to be included in your first post. That is a rather gorgeous bee and, while the majority of observations come from an area thatâs a little too far for me to visit, I do see one has been spotted in Seoul, not far from the National Museum of Korea and National Hangul Museum. That shouldnât be too difficult for me to visit by public transportation so Iâll see if I have any luck spotting one this year.
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Wow! I just searched for moths with âdefoliatorâ in there name, but these ones have ordinary names but still defoliate trees.
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I think this sounds like a great trip and it sounds like you have observational goals in mind already, but let me know if you would like challenges (or any closer to wherever you are currently observing). Happy CNC!
I found a relative of the suggested plant.. and this one is indeed a lifer for me as this one does not really occur in north-eastern Germany where I spend a lot of years outdoors 
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Ooh pick me, pick me! I need an excuse to go hiking 
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