iNaturalist and the great delights of nature photography
About 3 years ago, I started participating on iNaturalist. iNaturalist is an online platform where you can upload biodiversity observations. From plants to birds, and from insects to lichens - anything goes! Observations are mainly uploaded in the form of photos, but you can also upload them in other formats (such as sound recordings).
After uploading an observation, the system will suggest a species name, based on how well it can detect what is being observed. You can select what you think it is - however broad ("Bird") or specific ("Southern Double-collared Sunbird") you can be. Once your observation is recorded, other people on the website will help to confirm (or adjust) this classification. There are a lot of people on the website, and many of them know a lot about nature.
Why I like it
- It is great fun to go out and photograph animals - something I loved doing anyway but which got reignited by this website
- You really learn a lot about different species
- You start to see much more. As you spot the nuances between species, and you even start seeing species that were always there, but went unnoticed before.
- You get the feeling you help contribute to this larger effort
- Your data gets shared
So give it a shot!
Back to overview