sambiology's Journal

I had taken a bit of a hiatus from ID'ing observations, but with the City Nature Challenge coming up soon, I really need to get back into it.

I've mentioned it before, but ID'ing observations (or tossing on comments) is the most welcoming thing we can do especially to new iNat users! It's a great way to share our knowledge and what we've learned to teach others. And yep, I've been wrong thousands and thousands of times, but each time I've learned from my errors (albeit, I still make some!). Because there are soooo many new observations, I've had to narrow down my geographic focus to DFW (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identify?place_id=57484).

Anyways, as I'm getting back into ID'ing, I'm noticing that it's taking a lot longer than usual. Are others experiencing this?

I'll click on "agree" or add in a new ID, and there's a pretty lengthy delay (the grey circle with rotating green) before the observation updates... It's highly likely that it's just on my end -- my internet's never been super fast and my computer is a bit slow to begin with...

Have you been experiencing this too?

Nonetheless, super important to add in some ID's! :)

Hey all,

Based on this journal post:
https://www.inaturalist.org/journal/loarie/49823-question-about-the-traditional-project-aggregator
We've turned off the automatic aggregator for this project. The project still exists, the observations made are still a part of the project, but we'll only aggregate after longer periods of time (by manually selecting this option) to add more observations.

In the meantime, since this is addressing a taxon and a place, the explore feature is a better way to examine the data (and better for iNat as a whole).

Here are the carnivores of DFW using the explore function:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=57484&taxon_id=41573

If you have any questions or comments, be sure to mention them here! Thanks!

What a joy it is to spend time with the iNat community. I know that the data we collect and the information that we document is great and all, but I think the community is where the real power of iNaturalist comes in. And hey, it feels pretty dang cool to be with fellow nature folks. :)

Around 20 folks (@austinrkelly @jcochran706 @annikaml @connlindajo @gcwarbler @tadamcochran @mikef451 @eric_keith @knightericm @pynklynx @cmeckerman @butterflies4fun @centratex @k8thegr8 @amzapp @jwn @elizrose @bosqueaaron @lovebirder @charley) showed up for the Elephant Mountain WMA gathering (from now on, I'm going to label these as gatherings rather than bioblitzes -- I want data collection to be secondary to the actual gathering). The week leading up to the gathering, I saw the dismal weather (cold front!) and catastrophic drought map... Both were present when we showed up! Nonetheless, I think we had a good time -- at least, I sure did!

The first day we gathered for some 'mothing' at the Elephant Mountain WMA registration office. I'd say it was pretty rough mothing... Cold, windy, and oh so dry. We did still document a few nice bugs. Elizabeth and I camped the first night -- and the wind did NOT let up. It blew alllll night long, and the temps were in the 30's! We also set up a few Sherman traps (live mammal traps) and caught 4 kangaroo rats!

The next morning (Saturday), we all kinda split up to venture off at the WMA and other places. We didn't have much access to the actual mountain (big horn sheep calving season still), but lots of the 'driving tour' roads and bunkhouse area was open. Despite being massively dry (like, scary dry!), I was surprised at the amount of plants and bugs and birds we spotted. Elizabeth and I went to get a few hotdogs to cook them up for the group in the evening, and we stayed in Alpine for the night.

On Saturday night/Sunday morn, we didn't catch a single mammal! Most of Sunday, Elizabeth and I drove around -- visiting Marathon and Marfa and a few places in between. One great spot was "Post Park" south of Marathon. Chuck suggested this spot, and it was great -- water! We watched some vermillion flycatchers, scott's orioles, golden fronted woodpeckers, and even a javelina sneak out from the bushes. We stayed at the hotel in Alpine again this night.

Well, we did end up bringing some rain with us on the last day (Monday). It was just enough to get our tent and sleeping bags (which we unfortunately left at the campsite) to get all wet and muddy! We caught 5 wet kangaroo rats on that last morning. We then headed off east -- making a couple stops along the way (Big Spring State Park and a couple roadside stops).

Overall, it was a challenging gathering due to the conditions, but it was just the best time ever to spend with friends. I'm so genuinely lucky to be a part of this group! Another gathering coming up in the fall -- stay tuned for details!!! :) We're leaning towards east TX -- maybe the new Neches River WMA (as suggested by both @centratex and @cosmiccat !).

During the challenge, here is the Texas leaderboard:
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/texas-city-nature-challenge-2021-cities

Here is the global project (like 400 something cities involved):
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/city-nature-challenge-2021

And here is the ID page for DFW observations (will start to populate when the CNC starts):
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identify?project_id=93268

Check out the journal post by @lisa281 !
https://www.inaturalist.org/posts/50659-city-nature-challenge-2021

Arbor Hills Nature Preserve
Friday morning, April 30, 2021
9:30am - 12:00pm
6701 W Parker Rd
Plano, TX 75093

Frisco Commons Park
Saturday morning, May 1, 2021
9:00 AM to 12:00 PM
8000 McKinney Rd
Frisco, TX 75034

Oak Point Nature Preserve
Sunday morning, May 2, 2021
8:30 AM - 11:30 AM
5901 Los Rios Blvd
Plano, TX 75074

Mothing at Beaver Run Park
Sunday evening, May 2, 2021
9:00 PM - 10:30 PM
110 Elisabeth Way
Fairview, TX 75069

Stewart Creek Wetlands
Monday morning, May 3, 2021
9:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Teel Parkway (south of Lebanon Drive where it dead ends)
Frisco, TX 75034