Diario de jaykeller

Hello Everyone,

I wanted to write a snippet about the benefits of "iNatting" with others, which can be an enlightening learning experience and one that tends to contribute positively to the number and diversity of submitted observations, which I will explain in a moment. I recently had the pleasure of meeting Sam Kieschnick (aka "sambiology") while on a business trip to his home area of north Texas where we explored a local natural park together and found a gob of interesting species. I'm only somewhat familiar with Texas fauna and flora from my past trips there, so meeting a local expert was a fantastic experience not only from a personal perspective, but also from a pure learning opportunity. Sam's knowledge of the area is extensive and appreciated by me, and I feel like I took a significant leap forward knowledge-wise there. Thanks Sam!

As I mentioned earlier, iNatting with friends also tends to increase the diversity of organisms submitted to iNaturalist. From my many outings with fellow SoCal local BJ Stacey (aka finatic), I have been struck many times by the times when he simply notices that obscure plant or insect that I had walked right past only moments prior. I often return that same type of favor. Therefore, the overall impact is a more complete "bioblitz" of the area and more species we're both able to see. It is interesting to note that when we explore areas separately, we tend to observe an overall less abundance of creatures.

A few weeks ago, another iNatter, Susan Hewitt (aka "invertzoo") visited my local patch and BJ and I were fortunate to be able to visit a local beach to sample the many Mollusks there, a group in which we are both really just starting to immerse ourselves. We learned so much from that experience that has allowed us to more confidently document these creatures in our travels since.

So in summary, my recommendation is to reach out to others in your local patch or even farther afield if you are comfortable in doing so, to go on expeditions together. You will not only likely learn a lot, but you will quite simply see more of the life bounty that nature has to offer.

Jay Keller