This summer, iNaturalist has received a lot of observations! Although this is good, the backlog results in routine observations buried in the Needs ID column. I would like to see an organized effort to ID birds over the next month. This will improve iNaturalist's reputation with users. New users will be happy to see the community ID their obs., not be disappointed by lack of response.
I'm not suggesting trying to do the impossible of ID'ing everything, but there are a lot of routine obs. getting ignored.
@greglasley @kevinhintsa @aguilita @john8 @joshuagsmith @d_kluza @maractwin @mako252 @sambiology @wouterteunissen
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I like your idea, Danny. I'm in.
I spend a fair bit of time perusing old observations trying to identify what I can. Lately I've been doing this for fish and butterflies, and not watching birds too much.
One thing I've discovered is to pick a frequently misidentified species, and specifically go looking for it. For instance, skimming research grade Black Swallowtail observations, I have found about a dozen Red-spotted Purple butterflies. Likewise, Viceroys confirmed as Monarchs.
Excellent approach!
Combing through backlog is something I try to do when I have a chance too... Lately I've narrowed it down to CA specifically as that's where I'm most comfortable, but I do have a sibley's for the west coast so perhaps I should be expanding a bit.
One thing I have occasionally done is to make an effort to mark observations that are obviously un-identifiable (such as grainy long distance photos where the bird is just a few pixels) as "the community cannot improve upon this ID" at the bottom of the page to (in theory?) remove it from the Needs-ID list, but wasn't sure what the community consensus on using that feature is so I've been hesitant to use it extensively.
I do like your approach as well @maractwin ! Another thing to look out for as far as mis-IDs goes is checking range maps and looking for sightings that are obviously out of range (like a northern mockingbird in south america) and verifying them.
All good. Going over ignored categories/species is an ongoing process time permitting. Time is the precious resource with there sometimes being more of it, others less. Like Mark, ID interest ranges from birds to odonates to butterflies & moths to mammals to plants and yes, reptiles & amphibians. Plants too comprise an interesting category of IDs and are likely the most numerous of the categories existing on the platform. It's one day at a time and you get done what's possible so long as the sun continues to rise and set. Breathe. Best!
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