What are observation fields?

Observation fields are a way to add extra details to any observation. For example, if you've got a butterfly observation, you can add the observation field "insect lifestage" and set it to "adult". If you photographed a caterpillar of the same species, you could set the "insect lifestage" field to "larva".

This adds extra value to observations. That's because it makes these details much easier for researchers to find and use than if they were written down in lots of different ways in paragraphs in the observations' descriptions. For example, insect lifestage lets researchers quickly figure out at what time of year adult butterflies are flying, since they can quickly separate observations of adults from observations of eggs, larvae, and pupae.

Any user can add observation field details to any observation. Just start typing the field name into the "Choose a field" box under the "Observation Fields" heading on any observation web page. You can help not just by adding observation fields to your own observations but also adding them to others' observations. (Note that a few users have turned this off in their profile so that only they can add these details. They tend to be the pros who do it all themselves.)

For all fields in iNaturalist NZ — Mātaki Taiao (and the global iNaturalist network), see https://inaturalist.nz/observation_fields/. Any of these fields can also be added to Projects as required or recommended fields for people to fill in. This is a great way to add value to the observations in a project.

If you cannot find the field you need, you can create it. Any field you create will be available to everyone across iNaturalist NZ — Mātaki Taiao and the whole iNaturalist Network. If you do create a new field, please take the time first to ensure that a field doesn't already exist with the same function. You can search all of the existing fields at https://inaturalist.nz/observation_fields/.

Recommended fields

Observation fields work best when everyone uses the same one field for a particular purpose. With that in mind, we list here our favourite fields that are commonly used throughout iNaturalist NZ.

General monitoring fields

For how long did you search? What did you look for? How many did you find?

• Time Surveying in Minutes (How many minutes did you spend observing?)
• Duration long (days) (How many days did you spend observing?)
• Count
• Dead or alive
• Is it wild?
• Bands observed (For recording band combinations of banded individuals, like bird leg bands.)
• Casual or planned observation (Was this observation an incidental, "casual" observation or the result of a planned search or survey for this species?)
• Area searched (m2)
• Searched for all birds (This observation was part of a survey for all birds.)
• Searched for all dragonflies and damselflies (This observation was part of a survey for all dragonflies and damselflies.)
• Searched for all butterflies (This observation was part of a survey for all butterflies.)
• Searched for all plants (This observation was part of a survey for all plants, with or without mosses and liverworts.)
• Searched for all (Specify the taxonomic group that you searched for in your survey.)
• Taxon sought but not found (Specify the taxonomic group that you searched for in your survey, when you found none of them at all. Add this to an observation with no species ID.)
• Identification uncertain
(For observations where you didn't get a photo/recording and you're pretty sure of your ID but not 100% certain.)

Sampling methods

• Method of surveying for invertebrates
• Five minute bird count method
• Botany sampling method
• Mammal tracking method
• Monitoring_Plot/Site Non-Species Data (Add this to the Key observation in a series of observations that contains all of your Plot/Site data — this observation gets all of the non-biological and/or non-species-specific site data (e.g., weather data, soil type, slope, bare ground, moss cover, etc.))

People fields

Your name will automatically be added to your observation. However, sometimes you may also want to add names of other observers.

• Original observer If you're not the person who originally made this observation, you can add their name in this field.
• Photographer If you didn't take the photo, you can add the name of the photographer in this field.
• Additional observers You can list the names of the people with you when you made the observation.
• Number of observers If the number of observers is an important measure of collection effort for your project, you can include it with this field.

Substrate

Substrate refers to the kind of thing a species is growing on.

• Lichen substrate
• Substrate of fungus
• Substrate_detail2 (drop down list of primarily epiphyte substrates)
• Substrate type (dropdown list of bare ground textures)

Topography

• Elevation (m) (You can usually get this later from maps but if you have more accurate on site information you can add it.)

Weather and Noise

The weather conditions can influence what species you find. The following are the standard weather fields used in NZ 5-minute bird counts.

• Simple temperature (from " freezing (less than 0 degrees C)" to "hot (greater than 22 degrees C)")
• Simple wind (from " Leaves still or move without noise (Beaufort 0 and 1)" to "Branches or trees sway (Beaufort 5, 6 and 7) ")
• Direct sunshine (minutes) (make sure that you also use Activity duration (minutes), so that the proportion of time with direct sun can be calculated)
• Preciptiation type (from "None" to "Snow")
• Precipitation intensity (from "None" to "Heavy")
• Noise (from "Not important" to "Loud")

Lifestage/Behaviour

• Insect life stage
• Bird life stage
• Plant life stage
• Fungi life stage
• Simple life stage: adult or juvenile
• Sex
• Animal sign and song (useful if you just found tracks, or scat, or an empty nest, etc.)
• Oviposition (was a female laying eggs?)

Plant phenology

• Plant flower buds
• Plant flowering
• Plant immature fruit/seeds
• Plant mature fruit/seeds
• Plant seeds dispersed
• Plant phenology: most common flowering/fruiting reproductive stage

Interactions

Nature is filled with species interacting with other species. These interactions are often poorly documented (what eats what, what pollinates what, etc.) so it's really helpful to add these fields to observations of species interacting. It's best to add each appropriate interaction to an observation using the relevant field starting with "Interaction->".

You can also add the link to another observation using the "associated observation" field.

• Interaction->Flower visited by
• Interaction->Visited flower of
• Interaction->Fruit eaten by
• Interaction->Ate fruit of
• Interaction->Dispersed seed of
• Interaction->Seed dispersed by
• Interaction->Ate seed of
• Interaction->Seed eaten by
• Interaction->Preyed upon by
• Interaction->Preyed on
• Interaction->Herbivory by
• Interaction->Herbivore of
• type of herbivory
• Interaction->Parasite of
• Interaction->Parasitoid of
• Interaction->Hemiparasite of
• Interaction->Parasitised by
• Interaction->Infected by
• Interaction->Pathogen of
• Interaction->Nested in
• Interaction->Used as nest by
• Interaction->Decomposer of
• Interaction->Decomposed by
• Interaction->Carcass scavenged by
• Interaction->Scavenged carcass of
• Interaction->Competition with
• Interaction->Chasing
• Interaction->Chased by
• Mobbing
• Mobbed by
• Interaction->Egg(s) laid on/in
• Interaction->Damaged
• Interaction->Damaged by
• Host
• Is Host For
• Perching on

Five minute bird count fields

• Five minute bird count method
• Count
• Minimum number of individuals SEEN (If you're having trouble counting the exact number of individuals, it can be easier to provide a minimum and maximum for the number of individuals of a species that you see.)
• Maximum number of individuals SEEN
• Minimum number of individuals HEARD ONLY
• Maximum number of individuals HEARD ONLY
• Bird using habitat (Was the bird you saw using the local habitat or just flying by?)
• Simple temperature (Which of the following best describes the temperature at your site?)
• Simple wind (Which of the following best matches the wind conditions at your site?)
• Noise (Noise can make it harder to detect some species (e.g. hear bird calls).)
• Direct sunshine in 5 minutes (To the nearest minute, how much of your five minutes of sampling was the sun not blocked by cloud?)
• Precipitation type
• Precipitation intensity

Or, for including five minute counts inside longer bird counts:

• Minimum number of individuals seen in first five minutes (Counts for just the first five minutes of your duration)
• Maximum number of individuals seen in first five minutes (Counts for just the first five minutes of your duration. If one bird is seen and goes away and another of the same species is later seen, then the maximum is 2 and the minimum is 1.)
• Minimum number of individuals HEARD ONLY in the first five minutes (Counts for just the first five minutes of your duration)
• Maximum number of individuals HEARD ONLY in the first five minutes (Counts for just the first five minutes of your duration)
• Minimum number of individuals seen after the first five minutes (Counts from the first five minutes to the end of the duration of your count)
• Maximum number of individuals seen after the first five minutes (Counts from the first five minutes to the end of the duration of your count. If one bird is seen and goes away and another of the same species is later seen, then the maximum is 2 and the minimum is 1.)
• Minimum number of individuals HEARD ONLY after the first five minutes (Counts from after the first five minutes to the end of your count duration)
• Maximum number of individuals HEARD ONLY after the first five minutes (Counts for just the first five minutes of your duration)
• Seen after the first five minutes (For simpler recording after the first five minutes: did you see this species only after the first five minutes of recording? Yes/No)
• HEARD ONLY after the first five minutes (For simpler recording after the first five minutes: did you HEAR but not see this species only after the first five minutes of recording? Yes/No)

Pest mammal trapping

• Trap Types The NZ standard trap types for mammalian pest control trap monitoring.
• Other Trap Type This is the specified other trap type in the NZ standard trap types for mammalian pest control trap monitoring.
• Trap Bait Type The NZ standard trap bait types for mammalian pest control pest trap monitoring.
• Other trap bait type This is the specified other trap bait type in the NZ standard trap bait types for mammalian pest control trap monitoring.
• Trap status The NZ standard trap status for mammalian pest control pest trap monitoring.
• Bait Station target species The NZ standard bait station target species for mammalian pest control bait station monitoring.
• Other bait station target species This is the specified other bait station target species in the NZ standard trap bait types for mammalian pest control trap monitoring.
• Bait formulation The NZ standard bait formulation for mammalian pest control bait station monitoring.
• Other bait formulation This is the specified other bait formulation in the NZ standard trap bait types for mammalian pest control trap monitoring.
• Bait Station Type The NZ standard bait station type for mammalian pest control bait station monitoring.
• Other Bait Station Type This is the specified other bait station type in the NZ standard trap bait types for mammalian pest control trap monitoring.
• Bait active ingredient The NZ standard bait active ingredients for mammalian pest control bait station monitoring.
• Other bait active ingredient This is the specified other bait active ingredient in the NZ standard trap bait types for mammalian pest control trap monitoring.

Plant cultivars

Some garden plants are particular cultivars selected by horticulturalists and propagated true for sale, often through vegetative propagation from cuttings. There is a long and often messy and inconsistent set of cultivar names applied to different breeds of plants in cultivation. If you're knowledgable about garden plants, or know someone who is, then you may know exactly what cultivar is in a photo on iNaturalist. Whle iNaturalist doesn't attempt to include cultivars in its official taxonomic names, you can still add these to your observations by including the Cultivar field. Keep in mind that if you've found a wild plant, all bets are off because genetics will start mixing again so in that case it's safest just to use the species name.

• Cultivar to list the cultivar name of a plant if you know it.

Taxonomy fields

These fields are for people good with names. Many NZ species don't have scientific names yet. Taxonomists say that species without formal names and scientific descriptions are "undescribed". Some are easily recognised and expected to be real species when the taxonomic work is done. These are given "tag names" in the mean time. To make observations of probable species with tag names, you can use the following two fields.

• tag name to keep track of undescribed taxa. Give your ID in iNaturalist NZ — Mātaki Taiao as the genus and add the tag name into this field, e.g., the orchid Pterostylis "Bluff".
• aff. scientific name (tag name) Use this for a likely undescribed species that experts say has an affinity to, but is not identical to, a described species, e.g., Spiranthes aff. novae-zelandiae ("Motutangi").

Other miscellaneous attributes

• Deformity/abnormality abnormal growth form (mutations, melanistic, leucistic, albino etc).
• Injury/Anomaly atypical physical difference (injury, gall, tumour/growth, witches' broom, fascination).

Making multiple observations of the same individuals

Sometimes it's useful to make several observations of the same individual, such as when rearing up a caterpillar to an adult moth or butterfly, or taking repeated photos of a plant as it grows up and flowers and fruits. It is useful to connect such observations together so that people don't think they're many observations of different individuals.

• Same specimen over time Add the observation ID of the earliest observation to all observations made of this individual.
• Similar observation set This is another way to connect together observations that are similar in some way. For a more detailed explanation of how to use it, see this post on the iNat Forum.

Vouchered specimen fields

In general, good photos are all you need. Sometimes, however, a specimen needs to be collected. Sometimes a professional taxonomist will comment on one of your observations and work with you to get a specimen vouchered in a collection. These vouchered specimens get unique specimen numbers and it's very helpful to add these numbers to their associated observations. Keep in mind that you'll need access to a research permit to collect anything from Department of Conservation managed land and water.

• CHR (Allan Herbarium) number The voucher specimen accession number if a specimen of this exact individual plant has been lodged in the Allan Herbarium at Manaaki Whenua/Landcare Research, Lincoln, New Zealand.
• PDD voucher number Voucher number of the associated specimen housed in the New Zealand Fungal & Plant Disease Collection at Manaaki Whenua - Landcare Research.
• AK (Auckland Museum Herbarium) Number The voucher specimen number if a specimen of this exact individual plant has been lodged in the Auckland Herbarium at the Auckland Museum.
• MA (Auckland Museum Marine Department) Number The specimen has been lodged with Auckland Museum Marine Department.
• Collection institution If you collected a specimen, please provide the name of the collection in which the specimen was deposited, e.g. "Jepson Herbarium".
• Voucher Number(s) The unique voucher ID from an institution's specimen collection.
• Personal voucher number The ID number in a personal collection of preserved specimens.