Looking Ahead to 2017 with iNaturalist
Today a new year starts, though I tend to think of that happening over a week ago on the Solstice. Time to think about my iNaturalist goals for the coming year. These are NOT resolutions, more like intentions.
In 2017 I would like to...
- Take the time to take better photos. I'm not a good photographer by any means, and I know many things can be identified in poor photos, but that's no excuse to be careless. Unless it's a situation where there's no time to do better, I'll aim for multiple, in-focus shots in good light.
- Include relevant notes in my observations. I do the vast majority of my uploads on a computer so typing in some additional information that might be useful is easy.
- Learn how to temporarily capture invertebrates for photos, especially for my Urban Home Inventory Project. I suspect there is a lot of diversity of pollinators coming to the gardens. I'd like to document them better without harming them.
- Get small. I've figured out how to use a loupe with my iPhone to photograph some pretty small organisms. I should really just dive into true macro photography. This should come in handy as I also intend to...
- Dig around. It didn't occur to me to look around in the abundant leaf litter in the gardens last year until the best season to do that was over. Doubtless there is an abundance of life there and in the soil surface layers to check out. The same goes for the wee aquatic life.
- Learn how to photograph moths, etc. in the dark.
- Spend more time looking. I'm sure it's part of the learning curve, but there have been many times I've been frustrated trying to make an ID when a diagnostic characteristic isn't in the image. Taking time to document all the parts of a plant, for example, is more important than I'd realized.
- Strive for progress, not perfection. I've put a lot of time into trying to identify observations that I can't get to species level. I've still got a sizable backlog of observations from 2016 and years past I'd like to get through before the year gets busy here.
- Participate in a bioblitz. I unintentionally contributed to the NPS bioblitz last year but would like to experience one "live" with other enthused people in a real location.
- Do more identifications. I am super, super grateful to the people who have confirmed or identified observations for me and I want to give back. I'm not averse to being wrong in public--I've had a lot of practice--but I don't flatter myself that I know more than I think I do.
- Read iNat users' journal posts. I'm finding them informative and inspiring and a way to enjoy nature vicariously all over the world.
- Become more familiar with the iNaturalist website. Right now my Life List says "389 of 441 taxa observed." I'm not sure what that means, and half the reason I just typed it is so I can come back in a year and see how the numbers have changed. But, I sometimes feel like I'm just discovering all the useful and interesting features and functionality here.
When I started this post, I kept thinking of things I'd like to do that are only tangentially related to iNat. I'll write a separate post to cover those at a later date.