Twelve Hours Left
Apparently, some of you never sleep, because the plant Needs ID pile is now down by just over 22,000 from where we started. I really can't believe it. Who wants to guess the ultimate number? Two percent of the pile? That's over 30,000! And who knows how many individual IDs we'd have to make to reach that!
But it's possible. Definitely within reach.
If you're getting a little bored with your usual identifying tactics, here are a few links for different ways to attack the pile.
At the Flowering Plants level: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identify?iconic_taxa=Plantae&place_id=52339%2C48&taxon_id=47125&lrank=subphylum&hrank=subphylum
Pre-Mavericks: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identify?iconic_taxa=Plantae&place_id=52339%2C48&project_id=156949
Anyone for the leftovers from last year's City Nature Challenge? https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identify?iconic_taxa=Plantae&place_id=52339%2C48&project_id=146322
I spent part of yesterday checking Cultivated on observations from the Bridge of Flowers in Shelburne Falls, MA, and the Smith College Botanic Garden in Northampton, MA. They are both beautiful places to visit, but probably 95% of the plants there are cultivated. So choose your favorite public garden or university campus and push observations to Casual, where appropriate.
Finally, if you enjoy wading through pages and pages of unidentifiable photos, you could look at mosses: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identify?iconic_taxa=Plantae&place_id=52339%2C48&taxon_id=311249
Stay warm and have fun!
Comments
Thank you for the helpful alternatives for shrinking the pile! I'm curious what identifying tactics people are using. I have been looking for fringed stipules on Multiflora Rose. It can go pretty fast (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identify?per_page=200&iconic_taxa=Plantae&order_by=random&place_id=52339%2C48&taxon_id=78882). In general, I'm just filtering for a few familiar taxa and either confirming or refuting. Making supporting IDs makes me feel a bit lazy compared to making improving ones that refine the community taxon, but they provide instant gratification. Thank you to all the people in the trenches making improving IDs!
Same here - basically going for the “slam-dunk.”
The participation is truly amazing!!
This has been a lot of fun to participate in where I've been able to find a chunk of time here and there! I must confess I've probably worked a little both for and against us- have run into mis-IDd research grade observations in the progress and had to bump them back to "needs ID" with disagreeing identifications. I probably can't do any more until after 7 tonight but something tells me I'll be revisiting this project page to use the same search filter links for ID sessions throughout the year.
I agree - I'm mostly going for the quick gratification IDs. If I have to zoom in on a photo, I just don't bother, because my home internet is so slow. But don't worry about bumping observations back to Needs ID, we're after The Truth here, too, not just slash-and-burn identifying.
Makes sense! I was bummed that I couldn't make it out to the in-person ID gathering yesterday but I had some saturday afternoon plans on the books already.
@er1kksen, you're so close to @karro_frost and me, we'll all have to meet up sometime. Last summer, I organized an iNat gathering at Mt. Watatic, which was a lot of fun, so I'll pull together another meet-up or two this coming summer - probably not till July though, my spring is very busy.
I picked a species I can sort through quickly, but had a lot of outstanding confirming IDs (in this case it was Prunus serotina). I've been just ticking through that. It had been on my list of species to work through anyway and there were a lot in just this region! Focused on the 'quick yes' or the 'definitely not' which has kept me going pretty quickly.
@hcoste, I noticed you were working through Prunus serotina - thank you!! I'm working my way through Common Witch-Hazel - so many older observations that are perfectly identifiable.
@lynnharper That one is on my list as well! Tag me if you need another person on them
@hcoste, I'm about halfway through the 1000+ observations. I'll let you know when I'm done and you can sweep in and do the hard ones! ;-)
Anybody willing to try to help me out? I've been inventorying my gorgeous land in NH for the last 5 years. I have a fair amount of plants that still need IDs:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=any&project_id=welcome-to-the-witchwood&quality_grade=needs_id&subview=map&iconic_taxa=Plantae
I blog about it here, if you want to see what it looks like:
https://www.alandlikethisone.com/p/photos.html
Thank you!
@quietlymagical I'll take a look later and see what I can do! @lynnharper haha sounds good!
I went through a bunch of Erigeron canadensis and Plantago lanceolata. Both are fairly easy, but it's a two step process because I'm often making the first species level ID from genus. So they need confirmation. I think I'll tag some cultivated plants today!
@stephanieradner I'll go through those and confirm.
Also, reminder about in-person events: if anyone in the Ithaca area enjoys discussing, I'll be in the lobby outside Mann Library on the Cornell campus from about 2 PM onward. (I originally said the Big Red Barn but it turns out they're closed on Sundays.) A storehouse of paper field guides is on the 3rd floor of Mann.
@hcoste, I'm done with Common Witch-Hazel, but there are still 500 or 600 at Needs ID, so if you enjoy puzzles, have at it!
@quietlymagical, I'll take a look when I get a chance.
Add a Comment