Thank You!!

When I stumbled on iNaturalist less than a year ago I couldn't imagine the journey I was about to partake in. What started out as a means to identify some animals observed from my wildlife photography, turned into a quest to observe 1000 species, which got refined to 1000 species of research grade animalia(plant photography is just not as fun). During the process I've learned so much from the over 1000 identifiers that have added identifications to my observations, such as; gull identification is next to impossible, it's basically impossible to tell the difference between a short bill and long bill dowitcher, parrotfish identification is next to impossible, different species of ladybugs have a different number of spots and some have no spots, there are a large number of pollinators that exist that are not called Western honey bees. I've also learnt some not so pleasant things; the deformed wing virus affecting western honey bees, that over 50 of the species I've observed are threatened in some way, and that a few are endangered, like the Jamaican Ameiva, Caribbean reef shark, Caribbean whiptail sting ray.

The journey has been amazing (setting some mini goals along the way, e.g. 100 bird ids a month, and 300 animalia ids a month in any month that I leave the state of California) and I have reached my goal (which seemed impossible at the start) and I would like to specially thank certain identifiers for helping to reach my goal.

Clas aves
@david99, @guyincognito, @lsueza , @roomthily, @motmot, @bigsam, @a-tristis, @feathered, @bridgetspencer, @paniaguanaturalista, @eric_centenero-alcala, @aguilita, @quiltedquetzal, @dougstotz. Special mention to @burtosa for helping me identify that small gull in Santa cruz.

Class Actinopterygii
@sue1001, @uconnbirdfish, @maractwin, @socal_angling, @nat_t, @jbrasher, @kempe. Special mention to @prickly_sculpin for al the sculpin ids.

Class Arachnida
@tigerbb, @e16, @jumping_arachnids

Class Insecta
@akk2, @josefloribundus, @kgrebennikov, @tvl, @jimjohnson, @roomthily, @elytrid, @trinaroberts, @lupoli_roland, @bdagley, @pedro3111, @aguilita, @zdanko

Phylum Porifera
@blue_lotus for all the sponge identifications

Phylum Cnidaria
@joe_fish, @phelsumas4life for all the coral identifications

Phylum Mollusca
@jeffgoddard, especially for those limpets

Class Reptilia
@inbar for all the anole identifications

Class Malacostraca
@estehr

Phylum Annelida
@leslieh

Phylum Echinodermata
@predomalpha, @jbrasher, @phelsumas4life

Special shoutout to @damionwhyte for all the Jamaica animalia ids.

Thanks again for sharing your knowledge and bearing with me as I posted over 10,000 observations in the past year.

For those who are curious here is the breakdown
Birds, Class Aves, 284
Insects, Class Insecta, 225
Ray-finned Fishes, Class Actinopterygii, 208
Molluscs, Phylum Mollusca, 59
Cnidarians, Phylum Cnidaria, 41
Arachnids, Class Arachnida, 35
Reptiles, Class Reptilia, 35
Mammals, Class Mammalia, 31
Malacostracans, Class Malacostraca, 29
Sponges, Phylum Porifera, 16
Echinoderms, Phylum Echinodermata, 12
Segmented Worms, Phylum Annelida, 8
Amphibians, Class Amphibia, 5
Elasmobranchs, Class Elasmobranchii, 5
Barnacles and Copepods, Class Hexanauplia, 4
Millipedes, Class Diplopoda, 2
Sea Squirts, Class Ascidiacea, 1
Entognathans, Class Entognatha, 0
Centipedes, Class Chilopoda, 0

Posted on September 24, 2022 08:18 PM by muddphoto muddphoto

Comments

Cheers on your 47 species of Cnidaria. Plenty more left to find...

Posted by joe_fish over 1 year ago

What a great post! I'm happy to have been a small part of your journey. Looking forward to your continuing finds!

Posted by tigerbb over 1 year ago

Great job

Posted by bdagley over 1 year ago

Glad to have been able to help! Looking forward to more :)

Posted by nat_t over 1 year ago

Very impressive! Keep them coming and glad to have been part of the journey so far.

Posted by jbrasher over 1 year ago

Always happy to help add to people's knowledge of Porifera.

Posted by blue_lotus over 1 year ago

glad to help! your California observations aren't too far from where I grew up, so I enjoy seeing familiar species when you upload

Posted by feathered over 1 year ago

That's awesome, and I've been impressed and jealous seeing your observations frequently coming from both California and Jamaica!

Posted by guyincognito over 1 year ago

It's amazing what you can learn just by taking photos and noticing things. I really enjoy seeing what people are photographing and how each iNater has their own flavor of observations. Congrats on 1,000 research grade species in a year!

Posted by david99 over 1 year ago

Congrats! I love identifying your fish photos - you've had some really nice finds. And 1000 research grade species is amazing! Nice work.

Posted by sue1001 over 1 year ago

Congratulations! I'm happy to help where I can!

Posted by elytrid over 1 year ago

Always happy to see your ladybeetle photos. Congrats and here's to the next milestone!

Posted by josefloribundus over 1 year ago

Glad to help! Have a nice future journey! Nature is amazing, and there is more to it than one can see in a lifetime.

Posted by kgrebennikov over 1 year ago

Cheers my friend and congratulations on your achievements! Is has been my pleasure to help when I can. Keep it up! Looking forward to what you find next. Take care.

Posted by e16 over 1 year ago

Add a Comment

Sign In or Sign Up to add comments

Gracias al apoyo de:

¿Quiere apoyarnos? Pregúntenos cómo escribiendo a snib.guatemala@gmail.com