Hi hi; just wanted to chat and see how and why everyone personally uses INaturalist!
Personally I started off to learn to ID birds. Now I’ve learned so much broad taxa/species all across the board and primarily in my state.
I use INat now to basically track anything I can snap a picture of to help map out all species if it hasn’t been seen or represented in said areas. (I don’t love duplicates across the board).
I also use it to help the data with my knowledge on zoology as I work with over 200 birds and use that to add annotations and proper identifications.
so what’s everyone’s kind of spark and reasoning to do what we all do on INat?
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I use it to illustrate plants accurately in my art. It started with that but now I’ve learnt about so many species and have fallen in love with so many new organisms 
I like to ID plants on bushwalks and it’s a fun game learning new ones.
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I use it to identify what I see, which motivates me to see more! I also use it to connect with fellow naturalists and to sharpen my identification skills.
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I hike among the Cape Peninsula fynbos each week. iNat shows me who has seen what where, and I ID in turn. At first for ‘today’ and then I worked steadily back to bedrock 10 or 12 years ago. IDs are addictive … just one more page, only 2 more pages to clear that URL, what’s next ?? Have enough bookmarked to keep me going thru the next 3 lifetimes!
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iNat is just like Pokemon Go, but in real life, with 1M species to get pictures of. I just have so much fun picturing things and watching my species number get higher 
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Among this, I use it to:
- extend my knowledge of things
- watch for new/rarer taxa
- see what kind of species I could see before I travel to a place
- search for a specific specie to watch and understand in which condition (period, biotope) I could see it. Very useful for species that travel large distances or migrate (birds, cetaceans, big fishs)
- chat with other naturalist, or ask question about how better distinct similar species
- use the AI for taxa I’m not familiar with but like to take pictures of (I don’t know anything about insects, but very familiar with marine species, i.e.)
- it benefits science
Actually, a lot of things!
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This is a great answer. Yes, like you, I use iNat for so many things. In summary, I use iNat to connect with nature and connect with people doing the same.
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I use iNat as a storehouse of all the animal/plant pics ive ever took and to learn more about the flora and fauna around me
I can save all the pics on inat and dont have to think twice before clearing my gallery (i dont have space </3 )
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I joined just to get some of my older arthropod photos identified, but has turned into a lot more! Now, I’m basically addicted to Inat, and have a huge interest in Collembola (springtails), and identify them on a daily (or more) basis.
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Although I have had an account for about for about 6 years, I got a bit besotted with it about 2 years ago.
I enjoy both adding to my observations, increasing my species list and watching my “identifications” climb. I know all about @DianaStuder’s “just one more page”. I am currently at a very modest 4,800!
I also like
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finding unusual/uncommon plants. I have the only observations on iNat for two species in Iceland: https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/observations/309344228 and https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/observations/307109534
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slowly adding to my species collections for several genera
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making an observation for a plant that has not been observed in that area - fairly easy with where I live in NW New South Wales.
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recording sightings of Opuntia tomentosa in NSW and into southern Queensland
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I like seeing my “dots on the map” spread over more of Australia and in more counties world wide.
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learning more about how iNat works from forum posts!!
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observing the same species in several countries - weeds are good for this and weeds need to be tracked!
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I started using iNat earlier this year specifically to better understand what Hong Kong’s wild orchids look like in situ - their growing environments, their appearance when not in bloom etc - basically as a complement to field guides so that I could train myself to identify them better when out hiking. But like others have commented, my engagement with this platform seems to have mushroomed into a lot more than that! I am expanding my knowledge of so many other native plant species - it totally motivates my curiosity when I see interesting observations uploaded by others - and it has changed my experience of nature this year in a way I never expected.
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I have photographed nature much of my life, starting with a visit to Mana Pools, Zimbabwe, 60 years ago. I was concerned that all these images would be lost with my passing and dabbled loading them in various other platforms - iSpot, BowerBird, etc. I joined iNat in 2015 and it quickly became apparent that it was the easiest to use, worldwide in scope and just what I needed.
I have now got most of my images up (all my digital and nearly all my slides). I apologise to some identifiers who have had to work through some of my awful early images! I now need to work on getting the rest of my shell collection up (Queensland) and collections of seaweeds, grasses and other plants (all self-collected and documented). Along the way I try to help with identifications and promotion.
I am very happy to help with citizen science, but it is hard to convince some detractors. Without iNat, no one would have known that I had certain images of moths, flowers, spiders, fish that have been used in publications.
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I use iNat for my health and well-being. My reasons are more personal and the fact that the photographs and data are maybe useful to others (around the world, too!) is a bonus.
I have photographed “things outside” as natural inclination as I’m not much of a “people person” , one that regularly sees being in public way too peopley.
Then I became physically disabled, unemployable and had hours to fill, while everyone I knew was at work… I went from my DSLR to using my iPhone, from walking hours and miles to not handling a quarter mile without a rest.
I had an opportunity to move. I relocated to a rural area, new environment with new to me plants and insects…I have a swamp that was a “green wall” and all sorts of crawlies… I got curious
My physical being slowly began to heal as my mind delighted in new learning and my soul eased.
I see new-to-me things darn near on the daily. I am relearning things I knew, but names have changed… I’m up to two miles and the photographer-yoga has helped improve my flexibility and strength. The daily lists and worries and junk floating around in my mind are relegated to the back burners and simmer down to silence, all focus is sight, sound, smell, here and now.
I walked up on a young buck deer yesterday morning, a gentle surprise for both…I watch the morning and evening vapors move along the hills and lowland… I photograph what (who) I see, more than look for something. Being out in nature is like therapy and church for me.
iNaturalist is a portal to share what I see… the Forum my only social… well, forum.
Yes, it’s become addictive…
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I started off on Seek trying to identify an Ironweed. Now, I also use it for anything I find interesting, want to identify, or feel would be good to post. It also helps me keep track of what I’ve seen out in the wild!
I also really enjoy being able to help identify things. I’m not super good at it, but I’m familiar with many local birds. I also like scrolling through the unknown species and at least giving them a broad ID to potentially help others ID them.
It’s also so cool to be able to help the scientific community. I love that I can help out the planet I love in even a small way. I hope someone out there has gotten some use out of my observations and ID’s :)
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over a hundred reasons for me, but I’ll only share a few.
- It’s so much fun! I love to be out in nature and the thrill of finding rare plants and lifers is awesome. Nothing beats climbing 5000 feet of elevation in a day to find a small endemic plant near the summit or hiking through a biodiverse area and stopping every 20 feet to INat.
- You can never run out of lifers: I haven’t found 75% of the plant species on Long Island where I live. Anywhere I travel to is a guaranteed 300 new species. Just two hikes in Greece and the UK on my last trip netted me around 150 lifers, plus another 200 or so from just walking around the destinations the cruise took me to.
- An amazing community: Almost everyone on INat is caring, informative, and passionate about biodiversity and nature. Regardless of experience level, as a community we can learn from each other. I’ve learned so much being on INat.
- Helping others: I personally choose to identify all the plants on Long Island. I do this for two reasons; to make a clearer picture of Long Island plant biodiversity, and to help naturalists of all ages and ability levels give purpose to their photos. A month ago an entomologist found a plant that they just left at kingdom level. Turns out it was the rare Linum intercursum, which is globally and locally rare. Although those moments are few and far between, identifying is great for me to learn and for others to have their photos contribute to science
- Maybe the most important one of all——it’s given me a unique purpose in life. When I was 14 I published an article in a local botanical journal, because of INat. I have consistently contributed to New York’s rare plant surveys and met with the Chief Botanist personally to help collect rare plants at a location I discovered. Although I love non-INat things too, my passion for INat makes me, well me. Some people not on INat can’t appreciate what I have done, but some definitely realize that helping 40K+ individual people with an ID and contributing 55K+ observations to science is a great purpose.
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I use iNaturalist to identify species I’ve photographed, to contribute to science, to spread knowledge and for the fun of learning new things. I get really excited when I upload a species that only has less than 50 observations in the world, it feels very rewarding to have uploaded something “rare” so I try and find species rarely observed. I will also use iNaturalist to look for photos to use for blogs and Wikipedia articles from time to time.
TLDR: I use iNaturalist for fun and to contribute to science.
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I originally signed up to find trilliums. I stayed because I love nature and it’s fun to support it in an easy way, I take lots of pictures of nature and it’s nice to have a place to put them, and I don’t see any reason to delete my account.
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Lots of reasons, most already mentioned above by others. But one is the website allows me to organize my photos of organisms by taxon, date, and location so that I can find the originals if I need them in my photo folders.
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I started here because I loved snakes, but now I mainly use iNat to photograph and identify underobserved creatures like springtails, mites, and ticks. I also really enjoy photographing birds.
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I started to use iNat because I was wondering what were those moths that keep flying in my room. Then I moved out in another biome, got access to nature more easily and wanted to know the plants and mushrooms around me, so I started recording everything. Then got curious on the bugs on the flowers. Then the fungi on the plant. Then learned leafminers were a thing…
iNatting helps me satisfy my curiosity and contribute to science. And I like filling in local gaps, like species not observed in the county…
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That’s kinda how I explain it to people as well. Real life Pokemon Go.
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