I love nature, and over the years picked up a habit of photographing every cool thing I come across and trying to learn what exactly it is.
So when I found out that I can actually import all that data somewhere? And sort it into a thousand neat little categories? And add a pin on the map for each observation? And there are other people who are also into this sort of thing and could maybe make use of all that data I had just piling up and collecting dust? (´▽`ʃƪ)
Data collection and triage is like crack to me lol.
I am going to get very real here. I use iNat so I don’t go insane. I have been a caregiver to my severely brain injured spouse for 25 years. I love her more than anything is this world, which is why I am still her caregiver decades after her injury. But loving her doesn’t make it easier. Being a caregiver is devastatingly difficult. It crushes your soul and makes you invisible. iNat is the only thing I have that is just mine.
I can empathize without fully grasping everything that commitment must entail. Nature photography, iNat, and this forum were a welcome escape for me when my elderly parents were dying. It gave me some diversion from the grief and time commitments associated with that.
record interesting stuff I come across, potentially (sometimes actually) rare.
try to get positive ID’s where it’s important, ie if I’m doing veg associations, and there are 3 species of something that look similar, I hope someone cleverer than me can get it right.
Sounds perfectly reasonable (dare I say normal?) to me, as long as the pretty things are theoretically identifiable (speaking as someone who’s looked at far too many landscapes with unidentifiable or barely identifiable distant plants being used as an excuse for posting…). There will always be more observations of pretty things than ugly ones, I think - and far more of conspicuous things than of tiny white flowers or small brown birds.
Well, I started using it because I was and still am an ignorant. It was more than common to go hunting, fishing, or just walking in the forest, spot an animal, and not know what I was looking at. So I was trying to look for any book or page where I could find the available fauna of my area, and ended up finding iNaturalis, which solved my whole problem.
Now, I use it mainly to contribute to recording all species I can from where I live and also help people know what they are looking at.
iNaturalist has been a great tool for me, and good motivation. Now I love to explore and observe the behaviour of each wildlife animal and then upload what I get to iNaturalist to contribute to science and conservation.
I use iNaturalist to help me with identifying fauna and flora in Australia.
I actually live in the heart of Australia in a place called Alice Springs in Central Australia. Whilst I work full time, after work I also work on my own website Ausemade. It is a hobby and a passion project for me, where I publish my photos of Australia and the local flora and fauna, as well as photos from other contributors (who I am very grateful for allowing me to publish their photos and yes, I show the appropriate copyright names).
The wonders of the camera on my mobile phone, means I can instantly snap the flora and fauna around me during my work. It has been amazing how many insects (my current favourite topic) I can snap doing my rounds, then researching and writing them up when I get home. In my spare time, walking through the local gardens and parks, provide me with some interesting things to photograph. You can see some of them here: https://ausemade.com.au/destinations/northern-territory-nt-australia/alice-springs/alice-springs-fauna/as-insects/
I didn’t quite get the appeal in IDing at first / how people could do it for fun, but MAN once you start it really is addicting! I think it’s because of the sense of satisfaction you get as you said when you clear out the pages :))
