Oh!!! I Love!! Hehe Admiring His Reflection..

Common Watersnake (Nerodia sipedon), juvenile, taken May 22, 2025, in Georgia, US

My first (and hopefully not last) snake of the year: a tiny watersnake! This guy couldn't have been very old. I would actually guess based on his size that he was very recently born! The little creek I found him in will provide a great place to begin life, full of small fish, salamander larvae, and invertebrates for this baby to eat until he's large enough to eat bigger prey and swim long distances.

Unlike most other snakes, N. sipedon is ovoviviparous, meaning eggs develop and hatch inside the mother before being laid, and the mother gives birth directly to baby snakes! Upon being born, these babies are immediately independent and soon leave the mother, who can give birth to—in extreme cases—up to 30 babies!

Ornate Millipede (Genus Cambala), taken March 28, 2025, in Georgia, US

Ornate, indeed! Look at the shine on those segments! I'm always excited to find these guys, but that often requires me to flip large chunks of wood or logs which aren't the most numerous in my area, at least when it comes to ones that are flippable. With that in mind, these are a treat! Quite large for a millipede and very pretty—the perfect combination!

iNaturalist New User Guide: FAQ

[If you haven’t joined iNaturalist, you should! It’s a great way to learn about the wildlife around you and contribute to citizen science]

This guide will be consistently updated as I write more posts/receive more questions. This is intended to be a basic jumping off point, with some links to more detailed guides(when I write them). If there is something you would like a more in-depth answer on, feel free to contact me directly!

Account Basics

Do I need to be a biologist/naturalist/professional or have experience with wildlife to join iNaturalist?

Nope! iNaturalist is for everybody, and is in fact founded on the principle that you do not need to be a professional researcher in order to contribute to science

Do I have to make an account under my real name? 

Also no. You will see a lot of people on iNaturalist doing this, but it isn’t required. Do as much as you are comfortable with

Posting Observations

[More in-depth guide TBA]

What is required to post an observation? 

In order for an observation to be eligible to become Research Grade, it needs to include three things: media(a photo or audio recording), location, and date. You CAN post an observation without these things, but it will be considered Casual.

What does Research Grade/Casual/Needs ID mean?

Research Grade(RG) means that an eligible observation has at least 2 identifications, and 2/3rds of those identifications agree on a species. As stated above, in order to be eligible for research grade, an observation needs to include media, date, and location. Research grade observations are, as the name implies, able to be used in research by relevant professionals. 

Needs ID means that an observation is eligible to become research grade, but does not yet have a 2/3rds consensus on species

Casual means that an observation is not able to be used in research. There are three main reasons an observation will be marked Casual. One, it is missing media/date/location. Two, it is a captive observation. Three, the user has opted out of community ID. 

What is a captive observation? 

An observation is marked captive when the organism depicted is owned and cared for by humans with no intention of release. Common examples are pets, garden plants, and zoo animals. Captive does not apply to feral domesticated species, wildlife taken to rehab centers, invasive species, or plants that have spread beyond gardens into unmaintained land. Captive observations are not eligible to become RG. 

I want to contribute to research, but I don’t want to post my exact location

iNaturalist allows you to set the location visibility on each observation to obscured, which displays the observations location as a 400 km^2 bounding box. You can also choose to assign locations manually instead of via image metadata, and thus set the “confidence interval” fairly large, such as encompassing your entire city. 

Can I post dead things? 

Yes. Several projects actually utilize iNaturalist to keep track of species mortality causes. You do not have to censor anything, but some users will upload a cover image that states “Dead Observation”. This is a matter of individual user’s comfort levels. 

I don’t know what it is, what do I put in the initial ID box when submitting?

ID it to the level you’re confident about. You shouldn’t leave it at “unknown” unless you are 100% unsure of what kind of lifeform it is. Initial IDs can be as general as “birds” “mammals” “plants” and so on. These generic categories help put your observation in the sights of more experienced identifiers. While some users do dedicate time to sorting observations marked “unknown”, they are much less likely to be seen. 

Identifications

[More in-depth guide TBA]

Someone left an ID on my observation, should I agree with them?

If you have reasons to be confident that their ID is correct, yes. Otherwise, just leave it. Erroneous agrees can lead to incorrect RG status. 

Someone disagreed with my ID and I don’t know why

Ask! Most identifiers are happy to explain their reasoning for an identification, and you don’t have to agree with them, you can simply let your own ID stand and allow other identifiers to chime in. 

It’s been a while and nobody has contributed an ID to my observation

Unfortunately that happens, especially in taxonomic groups where less experts are active on iNaturalist. A few ways you can attempt to remedy this are submitting the observation to projects or tagging identifiers in the observation(a good place to start is the “top identifiers” leaderboard that will show up in the bottom right corner in desktop). And you can also consider researching that organism yourself! 

Community Etiquette 

Do I need to speak formally? 

No, but you should treat it like a polite public conversation

Can I swear?

I wouldn’t recommend it, you’ll probably get suspended 

American Robins (Turdus migratorius), males (1-3) and females (4 & 5), taken January 10, 2025, in Georgia, US

The robin-pocalypse is currently happening at my feeders. Hundreds of robins are migrating in from north and stopping to eat. It's both annoying because of how much they eat and nice because they make great photos. They're the exact same color as the dead leaves on my japanese maple and are a nice pop of color in the snow, which looks nice in photos!

Vetch Looper Moth (Caenurgia chloropha), taken April 2, 2025, in Georgia, US

It's new moth season! I'm seeing lots of inchworms dropping from the trees as well as lots of seasonal moths! It's nice to see something more than renia moths for once lol. This guy was a little skittish, but ultimately let me get some pictures. Most moths are much worse subjects!

Black Rat (Rattus rattus), juvenile, taken March 9, 2025, in Georgia, US

The warming weather has brought with it new additions to the rat family living under the feeders, for better or for worse! I only saw one adult and two babies, though there were almost certainly more with how much rats reproduce. This little guy was very brave and came out pretty far to find fallen peanuts, so I was able to snap a shot of his cute face!

100% agree lol. I've gotten better over the years, but my astraphobia combined with liking to look at bugs and southeast tornado shenanigans makes storms suck a lot.

You're right that the best part of a storm is directly after when the sun has just started to come back out! A lot of insects that are usually flying out of reach are grounded from the weather and easy to photograph, and some that prefer wet weather are more common after rain. I remember going out the day after hurricane Helene hit last year and finding a ton of bugs I'd never seen before because everything was out of sorts from the unusual weather. It was a nice reward for weathering the storm!

It sucks that I can't enjoy thunderstorms that much comparatively to a lot of other people, but as someone who currently lives in a tornado zone and whose hobbies include going outside and walking around looking for bugs, the thing I like most about rain is the immediate aftermath—otherwise it's just, like, a loud, stressful inconvenience to me, sadly

Red-bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus), female, taken April 28, 2025, in Georgia, US

A lovely woodpecker mom visiting the feeders! Usually this species is very shy, and I wasn't being particularly quiet this day, so I'm not sure why she even came over lol. Regardless, I got some good pictures of her looking at me over her shoulder between bites! It's about time for me to start seeing her baby (or babies) at the feeders. Juveniles of this species completely lack the red head pattern of adults, having a plain gray head, so they're pretty easy to identify. Maybe I'll see them around!

Green Anole (Anolis carolinensis), juvenile female, taken September 22, 2024, in Georgia, US

I had the pleasure of seeing this baby anole for a week or so straight! She had taken shelter in a sturdy pile of sticks and leaves on my usual route and would always run for cover when I came by. This day, however, she graced me with her presence and cooperation.

Toothy Skink (Genus Plestiodon), taken April 18, 2025, in Georgia, US

A cute skink licking its lips after snacking on a tasty worm! I happened to look out the window while preparing to go outside just in time to see this lizard eating a big worm on the bank of my koi pond. After eating, it slowly slunk away into the grass. Despite there being lots of worms, this is a bit of a dangerous place to hunt, seeing as a watersnake is currently living at the pond!