My hummingbirds are still here. They're getting nutrients more from the flowers than the feeders.

We end Week 16 of the iNaturalist World Tour in Jordan. The top observer is @cliygh-and-mia with observations clustered around the capital Amman. Several other top observers have observations near Amman such as @khaled5 who works as a tour guide across Jordan. Ecologist @ronf and Jerusalem Botanical Gardens botanist @fragmansapir are in Israel on the map because of all their observations in neighboring Israel, but they each are top observers within Jordan across the country and in places like the Dana Biosphere Reserve, Jordan's largest nature reserve. Severeal other top observers such as @harrisonlee07, @wildchroma, @paolaferruzzi, and @saysay123 have observations clustered near this reserve. @yairur is also in Israel on the map, but their Jordan observations are just along the border with the Golan Hights in the northwest corner of Jordan. Several top observers such as @denis_m have observations clustered in the coastal city of Aqaba.

The graph of observations per month had a peak centered on January 2017 and has been ramped up again in 2019.

@sammyboy2059, based inthe UAE, is the top identifier and leads in bird and mammal IDs. @ronf leads in plant IDs. @cliygh-and-mia leads in insect, herp, arachnid, and mollusk IDs. @ariel-shamir and @artem are other top identifiers lending their expertise from Israel and Armenia respectively.

What can we do to get more people in Jordan using iNaturalist? Please share your thoughts below or on this forum thread.

@cliygh-and-mia @ronf @yairur @fragmansapir @khaled5 @denis_m @harrisonlee07 @sammyboy2059 @ariel-shamir @artem

We’ll be back tomorrow in Jamaica!

This week while at home for fall break I was able to take advantage of a gorgeous fall day and go to a reservation near my house. With fall weather becoming more prominent it was a little chilly walking through the trails in the more woodsy areas of the reservation, but when the sun hit it was a perfect temperature. There weren't a lot of other people when I went out in the morning, but I saw one family on another trail enjoying their time outside the same way I was. On my walk I was able to see tons of different organisms in the densely populated woods.With the coming of colder weather there are a lot of changing leaves, but there are also tons of leaves that haven't changed from their bright green color. I also didn't see very many animals or insects on the nature walk, which I was a little surprised about. I could hear birds in the trees around me, but didn't see anything except for one spider, some ants eating a berry, and a small chipmunk. Overall the experience was very enjoyable and once again relaxing as I just got to spend some time outside on a beautiful day.

I was able to complete this nature walk during fall break in my home town. I did this nature walk at Burnt Hill Park and some of the surrounding streets. Although I have been going to this park since I was about 7 years old to play soccer, there were quite a few things that I had never noticed before. This nature walk allowed me to explore more of this park than ever before and truly appreciate all of the beauty that it had to offer. The weather was perfect, about 60 degrees and sunny, with a slight breeze. I got to see a great deal of biodiversity within the park. All of the leaves were changing colors and many of the plants were in full bloom. There was a wide variety of plants ranging from nonvascular to vascular to flowering. I got to observe trees with their leaves changing colors and the goldenrods in full bloom, as well as some ferns and other types of plants.

To Matthew Adams, Ansel Adams was simply his grandpa.
Growing up in Fresno, California, Matthew would spend time with him during short summer vacations in Yosemite National Park, where his grandfather taught photography workshops.

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/ansel-adams-yosemite-new-book-california/index.html?fbclid=IwAR3xtsecwvGFnw3uKqhdQWi-GdMuclHrienRC307PzzNAp3Q4TDI-EHVtXs

Over fall break, I went to visit my friend in Nashville and decided to do my nature walk while I was there! We went to a green space next to the model of the Parthenon they have in Nashville and tried to find some wild plants. While I wanted to make sure the majority of my posts were of plants, I had to include one picture of a squirrel because there were so many of them on and around campus! In the park, there were many cool looking trees, including one that I photographed that swept down close to the surface of the water. It was a lovely sunny and 75, the perfect weather to explore nature with a friend in a new city!

This past weekend for fall break I went to visit my boyfriend at Florida Gulf Coast University down in Fort Myers, Florida. Saturday, he took me on a little campus tour and along the way I stopped to take photos of plants that I found. Even though he kept getting annoyed at me cause every-time I saw a plant I'd have to stop and take a photo of it, I really enjoyed our walk through campus. Of course, the weather was beautiful, sunny, mid-80s, and a whole lot warmer than back in the northeast. There were several different plants that had grown around campus, and my personal favorite were the palm trees.

Всем привет! Сегодня МГУ выложил в GBIF базу данных "Онлайн дневники наблюдений птиц". Этот массив данных содержит 306 426 наблюдений птиц, в т.ч. 277 842 точки встреч с территории России. Таким образом, iNaturalist в качестве источника данных о природе России в GBIF отодвинут со второго место на третье, отставая от "Дневников" на 55 тысяч записей. По сосудистым растениям он уверенно занимает второе место. Кое-какая статистика по массивам приведена ниже.

1. Топ-источники по находкам из России в GBIF (все группы) | Top data-donors for Russia in GBIF (all groups)

Место | Rank	База данных | Dataset	Находок | Occurrences
1	Moscow University Herbarium (MW)	622,805
2	RU-BIRDS.RU, Birds observations database from Russ…	277,842
3	iNaturalist Research-grade Observations	222,687
4	Geographically tagged INSDC sequences	195,599
5	EOD - eBird Observation Dataset	171,034
6	A grid-based database on vascular plant distributi…	123,054
7	EBCC Atlas of European Breeding Birds	80,923
8	A global database for the distributions of crop wi…	69,255
9	Arctic Ocean Diversity	62,946
10	Birds of Northern Eurasia	62,749

Источник: GBIF

2. Топ-источники по находкам из России в GBIF (сосудистые растения) | Top data-donors for Russia in GBIF (vascular plants)

Место | Rank	База данных | Dataset	Находок | Occurrences
1	Moscow University Herbarium (MW)	556,446
2	iNaturalist Research-grade Observations	142,225
3	A grid-based database on vascular plant distributi…	123,054
4	A global database for the distributions of crop wi…	69,255
5	Chronicle of Nature - Phenology of Plants of FSE Z…	54,792
6	EURISCO, The European Genetic Resources Search Cat…	51,488
7	MHA Herbarium: Moscow Region collections of vascul…	49,622
8	A grid-based database on vascular plant distributi…	31,669
9	Phenological Center - Plants	24,905
10	A grid-based database on vascular plant distributi…	22,625

Источник: GBIF Поскольку регулярного обновления "Дневников" не планируется, у нашего сообщества появилась новая локальная цель - вернуть себе второе место )) О том, что такое GBIF и как с этим связан проект "Флора России", можно почитать тут.

John W. Laundré Laundré is in the biology department at Western Oregon University. He has studied cougars, wolves and coyotes in the U.S. and is the author of "Phantoms of the Prairie: Return of Cougars to the Midwest."

https://www.roanoke.com/opinion/commentary/laundr-another-hunter-myth-americans-are-losing-touch-with-nature/article_ec3d7282-d164-5d8c-a663-436f2a6f2567.html

John W. Laundré Laundré is in the biology department at Western Oregon University. He has studied cougars, wolves and coyotes in the U.S. and is the author of "Phantoms of the Prairie: Return of Cougars to the Midwest."

https://www.roanoke.com/opinion/commentary/laundr-another-hunter-myth-americans-are-losing-touch-with-nature/article_ec3d7282-d164-5d8c-a663-436f2a6f2567.html

Though we are now well into autumn, butterfly season is not over in Manhattan, and a few finds in particular so far this month demonstrate the value of staying alert.

1. Funereal Duskywing

On Oct. 10, @kasimac took a photo of an unusual-looking butterfly that turned out to be New York state's first record of Funereal Duskywing (Erynnis funerealis), a southern species that is known to wander widely: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/34169876

2. Harvester

Early this month @spritelink photographed a Harvester (Feniseca tarquinius) in Central Park: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/33778666. This species is the only U.S. butterfly with a carnivorous larval stage; the caterpillars eat aphids. Apparently there have been only two other sightings in Central Park in the last 25 years or so.

3. Horace's Duskywing

Not on par with the previous two observations but apparently rather rare nonetheless was a duskywing I photographed in Central Park, now identified as Horace's Duskywing (Erynnis horatius): https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/33932164.

Have fun out there!

Cameroon is the 111th stop on the iNaturalist World Tour. The top observer is @aristidetakoukam with many observations (mostly fish) up and down the coast of Cameroon. @johnnybirder's observations are clustered near Korup National Park while @markuslilje's observations are clustered in the western and northern parts of the country. @irida73ceae has observations near Banyo, @elisebakker near Bouba National Park and @jakob and @markusgmeiner near Lobeke National Park. Other top observers include @muir, @dan_cawley, and @spellecchias. @dan_cawley's observations are near the capital of Yaoundé where he works at the Rain Forest International school.

the number of observations per week has been ramping up since 2017.

@esant is the top identifier and leads in fish IDs. Fish are the top observation category thanks to all the contributions from @aristidetakoukam. As with many African countries, @jakob leads in insects, @johnnybirder in birds, and @marcoschmidtffm in plants as top identifiers. Other top identifiers include @joshuagsmith and @clinton

What can we do to get more people in Cameroon using iNaturalist? Please share your thoughts below or on this forum thread.

@aristidetakoukam @johnnybirder @markuslilje @irida73ceae @elisebakker @jakob @muir @esant @joshuagsmith @clinton

We’ll be back tomorrow in the Jordan!

📣 ეკომონადირეებო, ამასობაში აინატურალისტის 2019 წლის სეზონის ბოლო დავალებაც გახდა ცნობილი და მის შესასრულებლად დრო 10 ნომებრამდე გაქვთ ^_^ 📷

📲 iNaturalist-ის აპლიკაციის საშუალებით გადაიღე ფოტო და პროექტში - "Tbilisi EcoHunter" ატვირთე თბილისში გავრცელებული ეგზოტური მარადმწვანე ბუჩქები🌲

🏞 ფოტომეგზურსაც მალე მოგაშველებთ :3

🌐 ინსტრუქციას კი გაეცანით ლინკზე: http://bit.do/eM4G6~

გისურვებთ წარმატებებს <3

I went on a walk today around a drainage pond behind my home in the woods of New Hampshire. Because of the October weather, the view was spectacular, filled with bright red and mellow orange leaves. However, with the theme of plants, all the plants seemed to be either dead or losing their leaves. I knew that I needed to stay low and take my time to find any surviving plants. Staying closer to the water yielded more success, all while providing a better view. Waling around the base of a connecting river caused me to find a wide variety of animals, like the frog in this post. I also found a rather large spider that caused me to run in the other direction, which sadly means there is no picture of the beast. The weather was great as the sun was out in a cloudless sky, as I roamed comfortably in a t-shirt. It was a great walk that led to me really observe all the plant life. Bonus: I saw a beaver from a distance!

Today, I went to Hammond Pond and the surrounding trail to see if I could spot some fascinating plants. Not going to lie, but I was quite unsuccessful in finding anything interesting. First of all, there were too many boulders around and so I kept getting distracted by climbing them and second of all, I didn't manage to see anything that really popped out. However, I do have some other plants to show from my trip to Houghton Park. I went one week before in the afternoon when it was chilly 53 C°. Surprisingly, I found so many types of berries when I was walking around. I had a really bad urge to eat them, but I think most of them were poisonous. I saw some other flowers and weeds that were colorful and took some pics of those as well. One more thing, I know it's off topic, but I found a ton of fungi today as well! So, I've posted those on this journal just for fun.

After taking photos of this wheke it decided to get in on the act and grabbed my camera. A good thing I had the cord around my wrist as it has a very strong pull. Pulling out my other camera I got this photo showing the wheke with my main camera and the grey cord you can see stretched tight is attached to my other wrist.

As I had someone with me, they took the cord of the camera the wheke had, then I got down to get some photos with the other camera. The wheke initially had the camera upside down.

Once it had sorted out which was was which, it thought to try and take a photo of a human, not a common species seen regularly by the wheke.

However, distracted by it's good looks, it forgot to press the button.

So the first wheke photographer of Otaipango did not get any photos.

Meanwhile in Wellington in April 2000 this wheke stole a camera while it was recording and from that video we can see it is the same species. I am not sure if these 2 are related, and I am not sure if there is any research into kleptomania and octopus. Is it just this species that has a fascination with photography or are there other species as well?

Bats can have rabies, but it is extremely rare for that to impact humans.

The chance of getting rabies from a bat is very small — the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says there are one or two cases a year in the U.S. But bats are the most common source of human rabies in the United States.

https://www.whittierdailynews.com/2019/10/12/how-common-are-bats-with-rabies-and-should-you-worry/amp/

I went for a walk in the woods by Sucker Brook in Oxford, MA today. It was very pleasant outside in the 50's and quiet and calm. There were many of the same species of plants, so my observations have captured some of the abundant types of plant species/what I found most interesting during my walk. I am not certain whether I observed two types snowberries: one fruiting and another non-fruiting. I was also excited to find a moss species because we had talked about them this past week in lecture and it made sense that it was growing in a moist environment near a river. In addition, I noticed that the fern did not have spores on its underside at this point during its life cycle.

Short version: Log into iNaturalist and go here! Click one of the photos to view more details and add or confirm an identification.

Long version: No observation makes it into the Illinois Botanists Big Year (ILBBY) or gets passed on to the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) without at least two identifications. Making IDs is a great way to learn, see the diversity of species found in an area, contribute to science, and get to know other naturalists out there observing.

The Identify page on the iNaturalist website makes IDing really streamlined, especially once you start using the keyboard shortcuts. You can access the Identify page from the website by clicking the Identify link in the main header. Then click any image to view it in the "pop-up" modal in order to view the photos larger, add an ID, or see other details. There is unfortunately no similar quick and easy way right now to add identifications from the apps, so it's recommended to use a laptop or desktop computer.

Check out this useful video tutorial for using the Identify page on the iNaturalist website:

Here is a URL filtered to identify plants in Illinois observed in 2019: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identify?iconic_taxa=Plantae%2Cunknown&order_by=random&place_id=35&year=2019 I recommend bookmarking it so that it's easy to access. You can use the filters on the Identify page to show exactly the type of observations you're interested in.

Even a broad identification can be really helpful. So if you know it's in the aster family (Asteraceae), but not which species exactly, you can add an ID at family level. That way people looking to help ID observations in that family can find it easier.

Have questions about making identifications on iNaturalist? This Identification Etiquette post answers a lot of common questions. You can also ask below or start a new topic on the iNaturalist Forum.

Today I went for a walk in the conservation area behind my house. I’ve grown up with these woods behind my house and am very familiar with the paths. However, I didn't realize how little I knew about the plants that were back there. Besides the major types of trees - pine, oak, maple, etc. - I had no idea what the plants were called or how diverse the forest was. One plant that I had noticed before but not known what it was was the sassafras tree, pictured below, that has very uniques leaves. I also had never noticed how many different kinds of mosses there were. Although they are not all pictured, I had never noticed the differences between the types of mosses until looking at them more closely on this walk. The weather was almost perfect, partly sunny and ~65 degrees with very little wind.

Congrats ES 193CS + CCBER bioblitzers - this year's bioblitz has more total observations (798) compared to 763 for the 2018 bioblitz! That's an accomplishment especially since it is so dry this time compared to last year and many plants were dormant or annuals hadn't grown yet.

We'll wait to see the number of species observed as crowd-sourced IDs start coming in.

Again many thanks to Dr. Cohen!

Critter list for Lake Merritt walks on 9/14/2019 and 10/5/2019
Duck Ponds to Boathouse Docks

* indicates that the species is in www.exoticsguide.org.
(N) indicates a native species and (I) an introduced non-native species.

Sponges (Porifera)
Halichondra bowerbanki (yellow sponge, crust-of-bread sponge) (I) on dock sides (9/14 & 10/5)

Anemones (Anthozoa)
Diadumene lineata* (I) on rocks & dock sides (originally named Sagartia luciae); green column, sometimes with vertical orange lines on column, yellowish tentacles (9/14 & 10/5)
Diadumene leucolena (I) with vertical double white lines on column; on dock sides & rope (9/14)
(The anemone I said was a Metridium on 9/14 might have been D. leucolena.)

Sea worms (Polychaeta)
Ficopomatus enigmatica* (I) (tube worms on dock sides and on rocks below upper zone of barnacles) (9/14 & 10/5)
Terebellid worm (Spaghetti worm) in clay tube, collected at docks (10/5)

Snails & Sea Slugs (Gastropoda)
Tritia obsoleta* Atlantic Mudsnail (I) on mud and rocks (9/14 & 10/5; egg cases on 9/14 only)ly)
Urosalpinx cinerea* Atlantic Oyster Drill (I) snails with yellow or orange, ocassionally white, shells, on rocks and dock sides (9/14 & 10/5; vase-shaped egg cases found under rocks on 10/5)
Assiminea californica (N) tiny brown snail on underside of rocks (9/14) (there are pictures of Assiminea on the Myosotella myosotis page at www.exoticsgide.org)
Haminoea japonica (I) slugs, kidney-shaped gelatinous egg masses with yellow eggs, and a few delicate, transparent internal shells found on rocks, dock sides, undersides of rocks (9/14 & 10/5; egg masses abundant and slugs fairly common on seaweed on 10/5)

Clams & Mussels (Bivalvia)
Geukensia demissa* Atlantic Ribbed Horsemussel (I) shells on mud, live mussels on rocks and undersides of rocks (9/14 & 10/5)
Mytilus trossulus (N), Mytilus galloprovincialis (I), or hybrids Bay Mussel or Blue Mussel - on rocks, dock sides, ropes, undersides of rocks (9/14 & 10/5)
Arcuatula senhousia* Green Bagmussel or Asian Date Mussel (I) on rocks, dock sides, underside of rocks (9/14; empty shells and parts of shells found among Mytilus byssal threads on 10/5)
Mya arenaria* Eastern Softshell Clam (I) shells common on mud (9/14 & 10/5; small live clams found among Mytilus byssal threads on 10/5). (Cryptomya californica, a native species in the same family that also has a chondrophore—a shelf-like structure that forms the hinge on the left valve—discussed in connection with its shallow pallial sinus and association with burrows of other animals).
Ruditapes philippinarum* Japanese Littleneck Clam, Manila Clam (I) someone brought me one empty shell near the end of the walk on 9/14
Leptostraca
Probably in the genus Nebalia or an allied genus - Katie Noonan found one near the docks. (9/14)

Barnacles (Cirripedia)
Amphibalanus amphitrite* (I) on rocks (9/14 & 10/5)

Rolly-pollies, sowbugs (Isopoda)
Sphaeroma quoianum (I) the larger isopod, among barnacles and in empty barnacle shells on the sides of large rocks (on 10/5) and on undersides of smaller rocks (9/14 & 10/5); usually with a double row of 4 bumps on its tail segment; this spices sticks out the small limbs alongside its tail segment ("uropods") when it rolls up into a ball
Gnorimosphaeroma oregonense (N) the smaller isopod, on the undersides of rocks; often with a broad, gray stripe along its back; does not stick out the small limbs alongside its tail segment when it rolls up into a ball (9/14 & 10/5)
(Discussed: Iais californica (I) commensal on the underside of Sphaeroma quoianum)

Scuds, Sand Fleas (Amphipoda)
Unidentified amphipod in the suborder Gammaridea - underside of a rock (9/14)
Skeleton shrimp - on dock sides; these are highly modified amphipods in the family Caprellidae (9/14 & 10/5)

Crabs & Shrimp (Decapoda)
Pagarus sp. Hermit Crab (N) in an Oyster Drill shell, on rocks (9/14)
Palaemon macrodactylus (I) one found among dock fouling; Asian shrimp thought to be from Korea based on its discovery in the Bay around the time of the Korean War (10/5)

Bryozoa
Conopeum tenuissum? - small colonies of an encrusting, membraniporine bryozoan that may be this species, on organisms attached to dock sides (9/14 & 10/5)
unidentified arborescent (branching, bushy) cheilostome bryozoan - small colonies on dock sides (9/14 & 10/5)

Sea Squirts (Tunicata)
Molgula manhattensis (I) very abundant on the dock sides (9/14 & 10/5)
Ciona savignyi (I) I saw one that was dound on the side of the docks (10/5)

Fish
Tridentiger sp. Goby (I) on mud (10/5)

Marsh Plants (I've listed the typical zonation pattern, but this may be less apparent in the small bits of recently-created brackish marsh at Lake Merritt)
Baccharis pilularis Coyote Bush (N) - high marsh/dry land transition (9/14 & 10/5)
Grindelia stricta Gumplant (N) - high marsh and slough levees (9/14 & 10/5)
Distichlis spicata Salt Grass (N) - high marsh (9/14 & 10/5)
Limonium Marsh Rosemary or Sea Lavendar (N) - high marsh (9/14)
Salsola soda Mediterranean Saltwort (I) - high marsh (9/14 & 10/5)
Jaumea carnosa (N) - marsh plain (9/14 & 10/5)
Sarcocornia pacifica (formerly Salicornia virginica) Pickleweed (N) - marsh plain (9/14 & 10/5)
Frankenia salina Alkali Heath (N) - marsh plain (9/14 & 10/5)

Birds of Note
Canada Geese and Mallard Ducks (9/14 & 10/5) On 10/5 discussed the biological, morphological, genetic and ecological species concepts; on 9/14 & 10/5 discussed Dave Wilcove's concept of Canadoids and Mallardoids, and Dave Covel's introduction of Canada Geese to Lake Merritt.
Double-crested Cormorants (9/14 & 10/5) On 9/14 we had the lovely experience of watching a comorant swim around underwater in front of us searching for a snack as gobies scattered before him; and discussed observations in the 1940's of regular "team fishing" by enormous flocks of comorants in San Francisco Bay between Berkeley and Emeryville.
Great Egret (9/14 & 10/5)
White Pelicans (9/14)
Coot (10/5)

Some Other Discussions
California Ridgway's Rail (former name: California Clapper Rail, which I still tend to use) interactions with the Atlantic Ribbed Horsemussel. (9/14 & 10/5)
The interactions of Saltmarsh Song Sparrows and Marsh Wrens in non-native cordgrass marsh. (9/14)
Clam shell anatomy; the size of the pallial sinus as an indicator of a clam's ecology (depth in the mud and types of predators); and why the native clam Cryptomya californica is typically found at depth despite its small pallial sinus. (9/14 & 10/5)
The recent and ongoing extirpation of the native mudshrimp by a non-native bobyrid isopod parasite; and how the arrival of a non-native mudshrimp may eliminate any density-dependent restriction of the parasite's impact on the native mudshrimp population. (10/5)
My hypothesis that marine avian schistosome populations are sustainable only at sites where both the snail host and the primary avian host are present in great abundance, and may be spread to temporary, secondary sites by the bird hosts. In the case of San Francisco Bay's two swimmer's itch outbreaks at Crown Beach in Alameda, the main populations may have been at the Lake Merritt bird sanctuary, where both water birds and snail hosts are abundant, and exported by commuting birds to create a secondary population at the beach where people regularly wade in the water and are exposed to the cercaria. (10/5)

I thought that finding just plants somewhat dull, so I tried to spend some time looking for a few other organisms. Though, to be fair, the plants I did come across were interesting. I noticed that on some trees, the leaves were already changing colors, perhaps due to the recent cold weather. However, my walk around the reservoir was actually quite warm and pleasant. There was an abundance of small chipmunks and squirrels running around, gathering the nuts that littered the ground. In the middle of the walk, I found a few small arachnids, clinging to my clothing. I had taken a small rest on a bench, and noticed a small red mite on my pants. A few minutes later, a spider appeared on the bench next to be. It was tiny. I also realized I was starting to have a runny nose and puffy eyes, likely due to the pollen being released all around me.

After a night of yard-camping in the glorious new autumn temps (from 90's to 60's), Scott and I decided to go for a long nature walk at our favorite state park. Here are some of the species I logged into iNat. There are a few insects that required a slow-mo scrub (I didn't bring the Tamron 600mm with me this time), and I may upload later if I can figure out the ID's.

In going through list, I can see I missed several bird species which I typically ignore when looking specifically for autumn migrants (think mockingbird, cardinal, titmouse), those that only pass through on their way south. If I was also counting species and individuals on eBird, I would not have done that.

Our Observation of the Week is this Pseudomogrus dalaensis jumping spider, seen in Kazakhstan by @talgar-t64! These are the first known photos of a living individual of this species.

“People usually do not pay attention to what's under their feet. And there's this whole world,” says Anatoly Ozernoy. “And I want to show [these worlds] to people. Show their beauty, their physical perfection, their world. We should not destroy them, they have the same right to live on this earth. Earth is for everybody, it's not only for people.”

Anatoly lives in southeastern Kazakhstan, at the foot of the Ile Alatau mountains, and he tells me “a great variety of natural habitats is represented here: mountain peaks with glaciers, alpine meadows, old-growth conifer forest zones, steppe by the foothills and deserts further away from the mountains. This allows me to experience tremendous diversity of life without a need to travel long distances - everything's a stone's throw away.”

As a spider enthusiast, Anatoly has taken it upon himself to photograph local spiders, many of which are not well documented. “There are lots of endemic species here,” he explains, “but their scientific descriptions lack photos [and] most of them have never been photographed alive...So my photos are often the first ones of the species - this also adds quite a motivation to my research. I'm eager to find more of them, take pictures and share with people.”

One of those spiders is the one shown above, the jumping spider Pseudomogrus dalaensis. Anatoly tells me it’s known only from three locations in Kazakhstan “and out of the blue I found it just 13 kilometers away from one of those places in the fall, although I was betting on spring or summer. It was a great luck! The spider is small and I was fortunate enough to spot it on a large prickly shrub.”

With over 6,000 species, the Salticidae, or jumping spiders, are the most diverse of any spider family, and are pretty amazing. Perhaps the most visually-acute spiders, salticids have large, forward-facing eyes that allow them to find prey and judge jumping distances. This distance judging is accomplished not through binocular vision like we humans use, but “by comparing a blurry version of an image with a clear one, a method called image defocus.” And unlike, say, orb weaver spiders, male jumping spiders use visual cues when courting a mate; most famously those in the genus Maratus. Check out this video of a male courting a female!

Anatoly (above) says that iNaturalist has “proved very useful” when it comes to “photographing spider species, researching their distribution throughout the country, sharing local biodiversity with the community.

It's got various taxa distribution features, great tools for working with maps, plus every interested person has an opportunity to see observations. Moreover, I have an opportunity now to help others with identification of their spider observations and see for myself and learn new species and their habitats.

A huge thank you to @kastani for translating messages between myself and Anatoly, and to @zygy for bringing my attention to this observation. The generosity and passion of the iNat community is always humbling.

- Using laser vibrometers, researchers at UC Berkeley study the acoustic signals male jumping spiders create during courtship, which complement their visual dance. 

- Here’s a video of those sounds. 

There is new functionailty on the taxon pages: so now we can easily see:

In the genus Protea we dont have any observations of
In South Africa;
Protea curvata
In Tropical Africa:
(10 spp: Protea argyrea , P dekindtiana, P flavopilosa, P kibarensis, P linearifolia, P matonchiana, P micans, P minima, P ongotium, P praticola)

Over the last couple of months, I gained some experience using iNaturalist and uploaded the identified pictures of ocean fauna and flora as well as all animal sightings in and around the caves I could find on my computer. The community did great in helping with identification. In about two weeks time, we will start inviting more people to contribute on my presentation of the biodiversity of the caves and cenotes of the Riviera Maya.

Всем доброго утра! На странице "Россия" в блоге "iNaturalist World Tour" обновлен график ежемесячных загрузок наблюдений с территории России и карта топ-50 наблюдателей. Любители растений на лидирующих ролях в российском iNat-движении. Топ-5 наблюдателей и топ-5 экспертов связаны именно с ботаникой. Общая статистика iNat по странам лежит на GitHub.

Last time I visited the Hermitage Foreshore Walk in Vaucluse, Sydney, I had the great fortune to get a photo (If only one of standard or low quality) of a Tawny Frogmouth mother and two chicks. On that visit, I was making do with a max 140mm lens, which really wasn't adequate for most of the images that I was trying to capture.

Having now invested in a 300mm telephoto lens I'm hopeful that this little Sunday walkabout will yield some much higher quality observations. I'm particularly looking forward to capturing a cormorant in flight, as it seems a great time of day (early afternoon) to get them.

Hopefully, I can get a couple of new species too! Really loving iNat so far.

El Salvador is the 110th stop on the iNaturalist World Tour. The top observer, @carlosjuarezp, a bat and herp researcher, is on the map between the capital of San Salvador and Montecristo National Park where most of his observations are clustered. @guillermofunes and @kevcv_bio also have observations split between these two regions. The second top observrr, @ares-afc, has observations mostly clustered around San Salvador along with other top observers such as @talgoose, @tokue, @goodlordbird, and @verovasquez. @davidernesto's observations are centered on Montecristo National Park itself. @arnoldorm's observations are clustered near the small town of Colima. All 10 top observers appear to be El Salvador residents, which is interesting.

El Salvador es la parada número 110 en el iNaturalist Tour Mundial. El observador principal, @carlosjuarezp, un investigador de la herpetofauna y murciélagos, está en el mapa entre la capital de San Salvador y el Parque Nacional Montecristo, donde se agrupan la mayoría de sus observaciones. @guillermofunes y @kevcv_bio también tienen observaciones divididas entre estas dos regiones. El segundo mejor observador, @ares-afc, tiene observaciones agrupadas principalmente en torno a San Salvador junto con otros observadores principales como @talgoose, @tokue, @goodlordbird y @verovasquez. Las observaciones de @davidernesto se centran en el propio Parque Nacional Montecristo. Las observaciones de @arnoldorm se agrupan cerca del pequeño pueblo de Colima. Los 10 principales observadores parecen ser residentes de El Salvador, lo cual es interesante.

The number of observations per month hs been growing steadily since 2017 and passed 500 observations per month for the first time in June of this year

La cantidad de observaciones por mes ha estado creciendo constantemente desde 2017 y pasó 500 observaciones por mes por primera vez en junio de este año

Top observer @ares-afc is the top identifier and leads in insect and arachnid IDs. Top observer @carlosjuarezp leads in herp and mammal IDs. @arnoldorm is another local top observer/top identifier. @jmmaes from nearby Nicaragua leads in plant IDs. @oliverkomar from nearby Hondoras is another top identifier.

El observador superior @ares-afc es el identificador superior y conduce en las identificaciones de insectos y arácnidos. El principal observador @carlosjuarezp lidera las identificaciones de herpes y mamíferos. @arnoldorm es otro observador superior local / identificador superior. @jmmaes de la cercana Nicaragua lidera la identificación de plantas. @oliverkomar de la cercana Hondoras es otro identificador superior.

What can we do to get more people in El Salvador using iNaturalist? Please share your thoughts below or on this forum thread.

¿Qué podemos hacer para que más personas en El Salvador utilicen iNaturalist? Comparta sus pensamientos a continuación o en este hilo del foro.

@carlosjuarezp @ares-afc @talgoose @tokue @kevcv_bio @arnoldorm @goodlordbird @guillermofunes @oliverkomar @jmmaes

We’ll be back tomorrow in the Cameroon!

¡Volveremos mañana en el Camerún!