I can’t really describe how much I’ve learned from observing, identifying and interacting on iNaturalist (it's a LOT), but it has certainly deepened my appreciation for nature and how I view the natural world. My interest in plants really spiked after a short internship following my senior year of college, where I was tasked with identifying plant species growing in a natural area in 2018. Since then, I’ve done most of my learning on iNaturalist. It is undoubtedly the greatest tool I’ve used to learn about the flora and fauna around me.

Since joining in 2018, I’ve spent a good amount of time identifying others’ observations. This has really helped me nail down some identifiable characteristics for different species, and is a great place to learn from others’ comments and identifications. Some IDs are very simple and straightforward, while others require tagging and collaborating with other experts and piecing together small clues to arrive at an ID.

I recently reached 100,000 total identifications, and thought I’d share some stats (mostly for myself to look back on)!

I joined iNaturalist 958 days ago, on October 22, 2018. Since then, I made 104 identifications per day on average. This map shows the location of all of my identifications from when I joined up until today:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?created_d1=2018-10-22&created_d2=2021-06-04&ident_user_id=conboy&place_id=any&subview=map&verifiable=any

A whopping 90.3% of my identifications were made within the United States. About 19,100 identifications were made within my home state of PA, and 80,000 were made east of the Mississippi in the US.

My taxon breakdown is as follows:
0.70% mammals: 38 different species
1.59% birds: 130 different species
6.62% insects: 78% (~5,100) of these IDs were the Spotted Lanternfly!
89.91% plants: Clearly, I’m a plant person!

Of my ~90,000 plant IDs, over half (~48,500) were in the Order Sapindales (Maples, Sumacs, Ailanthus). I guess I like this Order!

Thanks to all who continually correct me and help me identify on iNaturalist!