You know you're seriously into iNat when

[cs16-levi]

@bouteloua

…you start teaching iNat workshops

iNat workshops are a thing? Where can I learn more about this?

[cs16-levi]

@Gradythenatureguy

…you knock knock on your neighbor’s door and ask if you can camp at their house for the night to see/hear a rare owl species.

That is peak birding

@petezani

…when you start trying to identify every observation of your long-term study species.

Been there, when you finish through you feel like the king of the world.

@eebee

…you’re taking the photos for a friend’s wedding and the bride and groom call you over to make sure you get a chance to photograph the bumblebee they’ve spotted. This is also an entry for “you know you have good friends when…” lol

Oh my gosh, that is so awesome. Great friends!

[egordon88]

… you see this on another website and can’t not share to the forum https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinfuriating/comments/1bnbcgi/got_restricted_for_messaging_on_facebook_for_1/

[zoology123]

Skimming through 40k non biting midge observations in a week to try and ID the species you currently know how to ID.

[GothHobbit]

You decide to pack it in for the day because even the Blue Jay you’ve been photographing has stopped squawking defiance at the thunder.

[WildEdges]

I’ve just been accepted onto an Ecology MSc course which I’ve convinced myself is career enhancement and not a mid-life crisis. I fully blame iNat for showing my where my true passion lies and forcing me to do something about it. Apparently there are tons of field skills lessons so my observation rate should go through the roof

[Thunderhead]

Congratulations!
That does not sound anything like a crises, midlife or ever!
Way to go!

[guerrichache]

When planning or even just imagining a vacation, your first instinct is to look at your potential destination on iNat.

[fluffyinca]

The solar eclipse is happening, which you’ve traveled across seven states to get the best possible view of, and you take a break to photograph some bugs.

What the sun was doing at this point:

In my defense, it takes a long time to reach totality!

[mbwildlife]

You’re just contributing to the little-studied effects of eclipses on insects!

[larry216]

@fluffyinca

In my defense, it takes a long time to reach totality!

It does! And while the couple minutes of totality are far too fleeting, how many photos of the partial eclipse do you need?

[liamodo]

Especially when clouds roll in around 40% to the peak and stay there until about 60% after the peak grumble grumble grumble

[AdamWargon]

When you feel the soul-crushing pain of speeding past an incredible roadkill on the highway — maybe a species you’ve only seen in books, or a species you might never encounter again — but you can’t stop because you’re not the driver, or it would be suicidal to pull over . . . and you’re haunted by this for YEARS or DECADES . . .

[raymie]

Ok, what was the species? ;)

[AdamWargon]

Mountain lion . . . in the prairies.

It’s like the prairie moose . . . a mythical creature that many believe does not exist!

[oksanaetal]

You start photographing mosquitoes instead of killing them when they bite you (this has not happened to me yet).

A family member tells you to throw an insect out the door and you come armed with a camera.

[Thunderhead]

It will! You may let several bites happen in the service of iNat!

[lj_l]

When you are recording insect sounds while watching the fireworks: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/227227983

[That_Bug_Guy]

I know it’s happened to me!
https://inaturalist.ca/observations/193261387

[bernhard_hiller]

@oksanaetal

You start photographing mosquitoes instead of killing them when they bite you (this has not happened to me yet).

Holds also true with Tabanidae, see observation
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/228407920