Hi everyone, I'm a new admin on this project! I love inaturalist and hope you all do, too. So, here's a tutorial for uploading observations if you aren't using the app (honestly, I prefer the app, but sometimes you gotta use the website - I find its the only way to successfully upload audio files and animated .gif images - which yes, you can do!)

Look here if you want a tutorial for uploading from the app.

Getting Started

So, step one. On the website, you will find there are a lot of ways to do the same thing. Pick whichever upload button tickles your fancy.

Once there, we're going to get this screen:

Drag your files, or click the "Choose files" button to select from a window. Again, whichever tickles your fancy. If you are uploading multiple files for one observation, they will have to be combined into one single observation. More on that at the bottom of this tutorial.

Once a file(s) are added, we will see this:

Great! But, there's a lot going on here! Let's take it a little at a time.

Filling Out the Important Details

First, let's identify what I found here. To do that, we need to click on either of these boxes:

And the computer vision will add suggestions. It's not perfect, but it's a good starter. Let's see what it's suggesting:

Great, I thought so! I'll click there on that suggestion, so it's now identified as a Viceroy!

Now, the observation should have the date it was taken.

This was on a trip, so although it will automatically suggest the current date and time, i need to pick the right date on the calendar provided, or type it in the text box.

Now that that's done, the observation needs a location - where did I find this butterfly?

There's a couple ways I can record this. Since it was a named location, the easiest thing would be for me to type the location into the text box.

Alternatively, I can play around on the map, zoom in, and click on the approximate location I was in.

The border of the red circle can be expanded or shrunk as a sort of margin of error, saying the observation took place somewhere in this circle. As long as the observation was in fact inside of the circle, the location is considered accurate.

Now, after the location, what's left is all optional, but can help give context to our observation.

Optional Details

The "Description" text box is there for you to add any commentary you want.

The dropdown box saying "Location is public" shows the privacy settings of the observation. If this was at my home, I would select the dropdown box and either select to obscure the location (meaning the location is placed randomly in a big box similarly to the circle discussed earlier - the true location of the observation is inside the box, but no one knows where) or make it private (theres no knowing where the observation was). I prefer obscured, because the information is still useful if its just a handful of kilometers off.

To quote the app tutorial:

If you are wondering, “Why is location even important? Why should I bother?” There are a couple answers! First, there are very few species present worldwide. For the most part, in order to identify something, it is essentially to know where it was. Sometimes, you can be vague, and just stating the country is good enough detail to identify something (common for larger animals, like birds and mammals, and larger plants like trees). But other times, you need to be extremely specific. Some insects look nearly identical to each other, but there will be different species living on one side of a mountain range vs the other side, even if they are only 20 miles apart. And also, researchers who are tracking the movement of species in response to climate change can benefit from having access to accurate data–showing that a species of plant is appearing even several miles north each year is crucial to understanding how to manage environmental stewardship.

The "Captive/Cultivated" checkbox should be selected if your observation is not of a wild organism. Pets, zoo animals, and garden plants would fit into this category. Insects you catch from the outside and rear indoors would not count, and are still considered wild.

Now, let's take a look at these things that are sort of hidden away:

(Tags aren't used much, so we're just going to skip that one.)

First, let's have a look at Projects.

If you've been added to this project, all of your observations will be added automatically. But, some projects need observations that fit their theme to be manually added.

When you click on the box, all the projects you joined will show up as suggestions. You can click to choose any project(s) you would like to add your observation to, but despite all the dead [x] projects, I'm not a part of one for butterflies, so it looks like this observation won't be added to any projects at this time.

Moving on, let's look at Fields:

These aren't used often, but they can be really useful on the right observations. I could probably fill some out for this one if I wanted, but I don't know how it died, and I don't really think it's important to say unknown. This one will also go without fields. Unlike projects, you dont need to "join" any fields to add them, but they are more likely to show up once you have used them before. You can just start typing and see what pops up (from my understanding, that is a bit of a peeve some people have with the feature)

Here's some examples of observations with fields:

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/31203103
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/27631192
With these, it shows what the host of the organism being observed is.

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/26514406
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/17501348
With these, the project "Dead Birds" requests a field filled out for cause of death for any added observations.

Hope that clears that up! Most observations don't make use of that, but it's good to know.

What if I have multiple files for my observation?

Great question! It's important to make sure that all of your files for one observation get put together, otherwise, you'll end up spamming and your observation won't be complete on top of that. Unfortunately, inaturalist doesn't automatically combine them, fortunately, its an easy fix.

So, let's add an open wing picture of my butterfly.

Click "Add" in the top left corner, then choose "Photos or sounds" from the dropdown. Alternatively, drag your files right into the window. If you do it right, it should look like this:

Now, if I post this, I'll end up getting two separate observations, which i don't want, because this is all for the same thing. To combine them, there is a checkbox at the top that says "Select All". When clicked, all the boxes should have a green border (see the difference between the first and second pictures in the above image). Then, by clicking "Combine", they will merge. Alternatively (like I said, there's a lot of ways to do things), you can click and drag one box onto the other to merge them one at a time.

When done successfully, it should look like this:

The images are now stacked! You can tell it didn't go away because there are arrows to look through the stack, and that "2/2" underneath the image that shows how many files are there.

Got all that?

All thats left is to publish, which can be found in the top right corner.

Click that button, and it's done! Yay!

What if I have multiple things I want to upload at once?

That can be done! For this, I'll be uploading some photos I took testing a trail camera. This might be a bit advanced, make sure you read the previous sections first.

First, I just uploaded a set of Egyptian Geese, just like I did with my viceroy, but with four images this time.

There's a way to edit all these individual ones before combining.

The difference between editing on the side and editing in the observation boxes matters when you're dealing with a lot of observation boxes. I want to name these all Egyptian Goose. So, instead of doing it in the box (which would edit a single observation) I can do it on the side, and then every selected box will change accordingly.

Nice! That's not always necessary, though, because once they are all combined they will share information. Let's get them combined (again, by click and drag, or by selecting and clicking "Combine") so I can move on and add more observations.

Great, all combined! Now let's click "Add" to add more stuff. This time, it'll be a common gallinule.

I did the same thing I did with the Egyptian Goose, but if i selected all and combined all, then the geese and the gallinule would merge, and we don't want that. So, instead of selecting all, use the Shift key to only select the observation boxes you want to select, by clicking on them. Then you can hit "Combine" so that only the selected ones combine. Alternatively, you can click and drag to stack at will.

If done successfully, it should look something like this below. This can be done for as many observations as you want.

Don't worry if you accidentally do stack observations, you can fix it.

I accidentally merged two different species of ducks, so i had to click on the arrows on either side of the thumbnail, and drag the thumbnails of the other duck out to make it its own observation again. Tedious, but not the end of the world. Then you can resume what you were doing.

In the end, I made 9 different observations. Make sure to keep an eye on the button where it says "Submit [x] observations", so you know if you are merging properly (make sure if you observed one thing and have 3 pictures, it says "Submit 1 observations" and not "Submit 3 observations"!). Once you know it all checks out, you can click on it.

Then, all of them will upload at once, nice!

Hello, everyone! I thought that objective-based activities would be both fun and helpful for getting people more into iNaturalist, so I am introducing badges! So far, badges are split into 3 categories (Task, Event, and Taxa), and each badge has 3 levels - Level 1 is the lowest level, represented by a brown background, Level 2 is the middle level, represented by a beige background, and Level 3 is the highest level, represented by a green background.

There are no hard guidelines on how to use badges you earn, its up to you. Once you earn a badge by meeting the minimum requirement, you can do whatever you want with it: reposting it on your profile, saving it and editing it, printing it, just listing "[badge] level [x]" on your profile, nothing at all, whatever you want. You don't need anyone to verify that you deserve the badge, you can just claim it once you know you earned it. Whether you want to line up all the levels, or only display the highest level you've earned, it's your call. As long as you're having fun reaching goals.

More badges will probably be added with time. I am open to any suggestions!

I also want to announce that a scavenger hunt is currently in the works, and I'm shooting for putting it out in September! There will be special badges for it!

To add badges to your profile page or a journal post, use this html:

<img src="insert image url here">

You can see a comprehensive list of html tutorials for inaturalist here. I'll also put the code under each badge for easy copy/paste

Task Badges

These badges are based off of your iNaturalist activity.

Astute Observer

Level 1: Have 10 observations
<img src="https://i.imgur.com/26OrQhA.png">
Level 2: Have 50 observations
<img src="https://i.imgur.com/gxqNoJ4.png">
Level 3: Have 500 observations
<img src="https://i.imgur.com/9XAlPuM.png">

On Fire

To calculate this, use this site! Input your username, and it will tell you what your longest consecutive streaks of using iNaturalist every day are.

Level 1: Have a 7 day streak
<img src="https://i.imgur.com/N5CkALK.png">
Level 2: Have a 30 day streak
<img src="https://i.imgur.com/WlTMBqM.png">
Level 3: Have a 90 day streak
<img src="https://i.imgur.com/jbUFG3L.png">

Event Badges

First Scavenger Hunt

List Checker

Level 1: Get 10 items off of the list
<img src="https://i.imgur.com/dDW1xpf.png?1">
Level 2: Get 18 items off of the list
<img src="https://i.imgur.com/HiufPXZ.png?1">
Level 3: Complete the entire list
<img src="https://i.imgur.com/gNetT2v.png?1">

Time Master

Level 1: Complete the entire list on or before November 1, 2019
<img src="https://i.imgur.com/GVCByfz.png?1">
Level 2: Complete the entire list on or before October 16, 2019
<img src="https://i.imgur.com/s5K6rAR.png?1">
Level 3: Complete the entire list on or before October 1, 2019
<img src="https://i.imgur.com/bFyJMhx.png?1">

Taxa Badges

You can see a list of species you've observed using this url, edited for your username:

inaturalist.org/observations/[your username here]

Amphibians Abound

Level 1: Have observed 3 different species of amphibian
<img src="https://i.imgur.com/PYTu042.png">
Level 2: Have observed 10 different species of amphibian
<img src="https://i.imgur.com/dloVrkO.png">
Level 3: Have observed 20 different species of amphibian
<img src="https://i.imgur.com/W0abnl4.png">

Arachnid Admirer

Level 1: Have observed 5 different species of arachnid
<img src="https://i.imgur.com/6TMwjFD.png">
Level 2: Have observed 20 different species of arachnid
<img src="https://i.imgur.com/lshiWiK.png">
Level 3: Have observed 50 different species of arachnid
<img src="https://i.imgur.com/KK5tGb6.png">

Bird Nerd

Level 1: Have observed 10 different species of bird
<img src="https://i.imgur.com/KfCcRZ4.png">
Level 2: Have observed 50 different species of bird
<img src="https://i.imgur.com/tCoOKim.png">
Level 3: Have observed 100 different species of bird
<img src="https://i.imgur.com/8itiTrz.png">

Fish Friend

Level 1: Have observed 3 different species of ray-finned fish
<img src="https://i.imgur.com/a9qcLVi.png">
Level 2: Have observed 15 different species of ray-finned fish
<img src="https://i.imgur.com/NcenrOB.png">
Level 3: Have observed 45 different species of ray-finned fish
<img src="https://i.imgur.com/7eT3CdB.png">

Fun with Fungi

Level 1: Have observed 5 different species of fungi including lichens
<img src="https://i.imgur.com/0HBXHJd.png">
Level 2: Have observed 10 different species of fungi including lichens
<img src="https://i.imgur.com/rqJbv3s.png">
Level 3: Have observed 40 different species of fungi including lichens
<img src="https://i.imgur.com/vPfSoLL.png">

Insect Interest

Level 1: Have observed 10 different species of insect
<img src="https://i.imgur.com/1ol5xXV.png">
Level 2: Have observed 50 different species of insect
<img src="https://i.imgur.com/yaT0mHo.png">
Level 3: Have observed 120 different species of insect
<img src="https://i.imgur.com/cDxuPQF.png">

Mammal Master

Level 1: Have observed 5 different species of mammal
<img src="https://i.imgur.com/2LywuKP.png">
Level 2: Have observed 15 different species of mammal
<img src="https://i.imgur.com/9GIuPxn.png">
Level 3: Have observed 30 different species of mammal
<img src="https://i.imgur.com/zm0cWnD.png">

Shell Seeker

Level 1: Have observed 5 different species of mollusk
<img src="https://i.imgur.com/FeTYcSi.png">
Level 2: Have observed 15 different species of mollusk
<img src="https://i.imgur.com/sfk01Jk.png">
Level 3: Have observed 40 different species of mollusk
<img src="https://i.imgur.com/M1PVhwP.png">

Flora Explorer

Level 1: Have observed 10 different species of plant
<img src="https://i.imgur.com/gsk936y.png">
Level 2: Have observed 40 different species of plant
<img src="https://i.imgur.com/CSrkRxL.png">
Level 3: Have observed 100 different species of plant
<img src="https://i.imgur.com/UWsTXfn.png">

Lizard Wizard

Level 1: Have observed 5 different species of reptile
<img src="https://i.imgur.com/ZlsH7P1.png">
Level 2: Have observed 15 different species of reptile
<img src="https://i.imgur.com/7dRqkJf.png">
Level 3: Have observed 45 different species of reptile
<img src="https://i.imgur.com/of9AzW5.png">

Hey everyone! I was going to post this a little later, but I've got a hurricane coming my way and would like to get this out before I get knocked off for however long. So, here's iNatters of tumblr's first scavenger hunt! If it's successful, we may do other events in the future! Below are the rules and guidelines, the scavenger hunt list, and other relevant information.

First though, couple other things, mostly reiterations in case you missed it: I'm @kuchipatchis and I'm a co-admin on this project now. I recently put out badges that you might want to check out. If you scroll just past the scavenger hunt list, there are badges you can earn for this event! Also, as a reminder, if you want to join iNatters of tumblr, in order for you to actually have your observations featured on the project, you can't just click the little "Join" button in the corner of the main project page. That allows you to watch the project, but in order for you to actually have your observations featured, message @kuchipatchis or @nanofishology on here, or on our respective blogs, pterygota and nanonaturalist, to let us know you would like to be added so we can do that for you.

And, if you wouldn't mind, please consider eventually filling out a quick survey so I know how people feel about the activities I've put out so far. Thank you!

Rules and Guidelines

You can post the scavenger hunt list with links to your corresponding observations for each item on your tumblr blog and/or iNaturalist journal. Please note that posting your observations to tumblr may mean giving out personal location information to a larger audience, so use discretion if posting to there.

The scavenger hunt will run for the next two months, with the lowest level time completion badge being set at November 1, 2019. There is no required date for any individual list item.

The list does not have to be completed in order.

Only observations made after this announcement count toward the hunt.

All observations must be your own. It's only fair that be a rule for a scavenger hunt, but it is also an iNaturalist rule; you cannot upload other people's media.

Avoid uploading organisms that are not wild - a feral animal or volunteer plant is acceptable, a pet or intentionally cultivated plant is not.

A single observation can count for multiple items on the list as long as it fulfills the requirements (for example, a bumblebee can potentially count for "Something fuzzy", "Something yellow and black", and "A bee native to your area").

Exercise safe and responsible behavior - don't endanger yourself or any organisms you come across!

We may make posts featuring observations from the scavenger hunt, but will check with you for permission before doing so.

The Scavenger Hunt List:

1. An example of camouflage
2. A plant growing out from the water
3. A mushroom
4. A fish
5. A pupa
6. Something fuzzy
7. Something spiky
8. Something having a meal
9. A symbiotic relationship
10. Something growing on or out of a man-made object
11. An animal with more than 8 legs
12. An animal with no legs
13. Something that lives in a shell
14. Something yellow and black
15. Something brown and white
16. Something purple and green
17. Something really common in your area
18. Something not native to your area

19. A bee native to your area
    (Try to avoid honeybees - they're not native to most places in the world.)

20. Something classified as a threatened species
    These species will have a little button on their observation page identifying them as such. This example shows a wood stork with a button identifying it as endangered. This example shows a gopher tortoise with a button identifying it as vulnerable (and also one identifying it as endemic!)

21. A feather
    You can add any feather observations to the project Found Feathers.

22. An animal track
    For examples, you can check out North American Animal Tracking Database. And, if you are North American, you can add your finds to the project.

23. Mating behavior
    You can add any mating behavior to the project, Mating behaviour.

24. A plant gall
    For examples of what these look like, look at the project Galls of North America. You can only add to them if you are North American, however.

25. A leaf mine
    For examples of what these look like, look at the project Leafminers of North America. Again, you can only add to them if you are North American.

Badges

There are special badges you can earn from this! Here they are:

List Checker

Level 1: Get 10 items off of the list

Level 2: Get 18 items off of the list

Level 3: Complete the entire list

Time Master

Level 1: Complete the entire list on or before November 1, 2019

Level 2: Complete the entire list on or before October 16, 2019

Level 3: Complete the entire list on or before October 1, 2019

Helpful Hints

Think outside of the box! A lot of these have a lot of different possible ways to go about it. For example, i would say all three of these count as fuzzy:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/23247677
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/11279332
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/29663957

Always be on the lookout! No matter how short an errand you may be running, nature is always out there. You never know what you might see when or where you least expect it!

Learning is good! Don't know something? Don't be afraid to look it up or ask questions, which you are welcome to do in the comments! On that note, something that might be useful is the Places feature - scroll down just a little more to learn about that!

Need help using inaturalist? Here's some tutorials for uploading observations:
App Tutorial
Website Tutorial

The Places Feature (impromptu tutorial)

iNaturalist has a feature called "Places" that can be useful for browsing, well, places. You can use it to see what you can expect in your area (or any area!)

Here's how to use it:

First, find it on the toolbar at the top of the site. It's under the "More" dropdown.

Once there, you'll be brought to the places screen. You can then search for a place. I'm going to be looking for what i can find in my state, but if I really wanted to, I could narrow down the search much more (I like to keep track of how well I'm doing in my county). Be warned, not everywhere is given a "place", but they can be added.

After that's done, it will bring you to a screen of lots of things that match your search. You can then pick which one you wanted to look at. I'm looking for the whole state right now, so I want to choose that.

Now, it will take us to the page for Florida. It happens to be found at https://www.inaturalist.org/places/florida so that's an easy url to refer back to. The default should show the species found in the place, but if you landed on a different thing, just click the tab that says "Species".

Down the lefthand side is a tree of different taxa. Clicking on them will only show members of that taxa on the screen. Above the species icons are some search options that might be helpful to get ideas of what to look for.

First, let's look at the "Colors" box. Clicking on it will show some color choices to select, and then it will show organisms that match the color.

There we go. Now, I don't always agree with their claims about animal coloring, and I'm pretty sure they leave out some animals that fit the color, but nothing is perfect, and this is just for getting ideas. But the American Coot looks like a great candidate for "Something yellow and black" because they have big yellow feet and black feathers. Maybe I'll keep an eye out for one if none of my black and yellow colored syrphid flies show up.

Next, let's have a look at the "Establishment" box. Clicking on it, you can choose "Native", "Endemic", and "Introduced". Native organisms are those that naturally occur in an area. Endemic organisms are native organisms that also appear nowhere else. Introduced organisms are organisms that are not native to a place, but can now be found there anyway. That's something on the list, so we will look at that.

See those little pink "!" buttons in the corner of the icons? That identifies organisms that have been introduced to an area through human activity. So, anything here is something I could get for that one. Again, this database isn't perfect, but it's good enough.

Finally, let's look at the "Threatened" checkbox. Clicking it will only show species that have conservation concerns.

There it is! Notice the buttons in the corner of each observation. The majority of the top row has the button "NT" which means Near Threatened. Accept that Near Threatened is considered under Threatened. The only two on the top row that have different buttons are the Whooping Crane with "EN" for ENdangered, and, strangely, the Passenger Pigeon with "EX" for EXtinct. I didn't expect that to show up. I think it's safe to assume I won't be getting that one for the scavenger hunt. Anyway, I can now browse this for organisms to keep an eye out for (or not....)

So, if you need any ideas on what you might be able to find in your area, try that out!