An Interview with silversea_starsong

Last year, in August, I had a chance to hang out with James Bailey (@silversea_starsong), iNat's leader in species observed, when he visited the Bay Area from his home in southern California. I'd met James the previous spring at the Southwest Texas iNat-a-thon, and he was kind enough to spend some time talking with me about iNat (and cicadas). So, over a year later (I'm sorry James!) I finally cut together a little video of our talk. I also made a separate one for our discussion about cicadas here.

I often don't have the patience to stop and take notice of every organism around me, so it was good to be reminded about how much there really is to see out there.

An Interview with @silversea_starsong from iNaturalist on Vimeo.

Posted on 27 de novembro de 2020, 08:30 PM by tiwane tiwane

Comentários

Congratulations to James for doing a great job finding different species!

Publicado por milliebasden mais de 3 anos antes

Probably not a smart question but what is silversea_starsong ? And Southampton is in UK ?
hmm.. No Shame...i am afraid i am getting to old for it. but years ago i would agree

Publicado por ahospers mais de 3 anos antes

"Silversea starsong" is just an evocative and beautiful screen name. And yes, Southhampton is a town in England.

Publicado por susanhewitt mais de 3 anos antes

Congratulations James :-)

Publicado por anudibranchmom mais de 3 anos antes

Fantastic!

Publicado por dan_johnson mais de 3 anos antes

Nice work, would love to see more interviews with iNat users in the future.

Publicado por kemper mais de 3 anos antes

Loved the interview! Nice to have met you in the Sky Islands, James- All those creatures on the dorm building walls at night!

Publicado por kayspurlock mais de 3 anos antes

Amazing finds too
Job well done 👍👍

Publicado por ck2az mais de 3 anos antes

Quite the inspiration. Thank you, James!

Publicado por jmaughn mais de 3 anos antes

Lovely! Thanks for sharing this!

Publicado por andreacala mais de 3 anos antes

Super cool!

Publicado por biosam mais de 3 anos antes

He does a great job of connecting the species with others.

Publicado por shahrzadasa mais de 3 anos antes

Terrific! James is a legend. He's still one of the top New Zealand observers and that's just from a one month holiday here. :-)

Publicado por jon_sullivan mais de 3 anos antes

I am so grateful that I got to hang out with James, an amazing iNaturalist, at that 2018 Southwest Texas iNat-a-thon! I look forward to future adventures together.

Publicado por gcwarbler mais de 3 anos antes

@silversea_starsong What lenses are you using?

Publicado por tonyrebelo mais de 3 anos antes

" No Shame" ... I love that notion ;-D
I can relate a lot to what you say. I love the ecology site of things as well and often get lost in the microworlds of nature out there. But I am also often surprised how comparably seldom some very common species are documented, I guess because it is so easy to overlook them. I am for sure guilty of this as well, looking at my list and seeing extremely common species in the counry I am from somewhere at rank 20+.

Publicado por ajott mais de 3 anos antes

i remember when he blew past me in Santa Monica Mountains observations long long ago :)

Publicado por charlie mais de 3 anos antes

Awesome! Shows a great view on how iNat can help people discover nature

Publicado por safron mais de 3 anos antes

@silversea_starsong will always be absolutely iconic of iNaturalist in my mind.

Publicado por gbentall mais de 3 anos antes

Wonderful interview, and a wonderful inspiration for all of us!

Publicado por artemis224 mais de 3 anos antes

Fantastic interview! So many of us can identify with the willingness to find ourselves in awkward positions in order to get that shot ("no shame"). Thanks for doing this and for giving us all a chance to get to know @silversea_starsong better.

Publicado por pliffgrieff mais de 3 anos antes

That's awesome. Since I was a kid I had wanted to travel the world looking at plants. Now that I'm older, I really haven't done that, but it's still a passion I wish I could pursue. Thanks, @silversea_starsong, for the inspiration!

Publicado por chrisbrant47 mais de 3 anos antes

I can't respond to everyone individually at the moment but I appreciate the support! This hobby has been a blessing to me and I'm happy to inspire others. It can be daunting at first, but it's well worth the journey. There was the remark about rusts and psyllids, which are host-specific to certain plants. Sometimes you won't find everything just by casually looking, it can require a proper scavenger hunt, in this case, remembering to check that host plant every time I'm out.

@tonyrebelo I run with a telephoto and a macro. Some people take two separate cameras but I go with one and switch lenses. It can be a bit risky in poor weather for instance, but it generally works well enough for me. My telephoto is 100-400mm, and the macro is 60mm, both Canon lenses.

@ahospers silversea_starsong is a fanciful name that came about from my writing. A lot of my creative passion went into creating fictional worlds and stories, and it was most prominent around the time I had to decide a screen name. In particular this one comes from some of the ocean stories I had written. The "Silversea" serving as a "place between" two different worlds, and "Starsong" a title of dolphins that travelled between them.

Publicado por silversea_starsong mais de 3 anos antes

Have your stories been published? Would love to read!

Publicado por kayspurlock mais de 3 anos antes

I've been lucky to be out in the field with James a few times -- always a great time. One of the best things is when coming home, I get to see the observations of what James spotted -- usually unique stuff that all of the rest of us missed! :) Not just that, but James always has such high quality photos. Just incredible stuff.

A fond memory of one of the outings: at the southeast Arizona iNat meeting a few years ago, I was driving with James and @treegrow , and we went through a border crossing. We had practiced some American sayings for when the border patrol asked if everyone was a citizen. We ended up going with "Where is the nearest Whataburger at?" Passed through border patrol without an issue. :)

Publicado por sambiology mais de 3 anos antes

Sam, you're forgetting all the neat things you also see on those days, that I, (in jest), throw a fuss about not seeing finding and seeing myself :)

Publicado por silversea_starsong mais de 3 anos antes

So great and inspiring James - no shame and nothing but respect!

Publicado por loarie mais de 3 anos antes

Oh my goodness, I had no idea, James! I thought you were just my personal inaturalist consultant. :) I have always been grateful for your help. Congratulations and take care!

Publicado por robinellison mais de 3 anos antes

I have had the privilege of being in the field with James several times, and he is a person like none other. I cannot properly put his abilities and knowledge into words here - you just have to experience it. And if you ever have the opportunity, I encourage you to do so.

James is a walking, talking encyclopedia of the natural world. But what is truly amazing is his deep knowledge across assorted taxonomic Phylums and Orders. The best field biologists generally work with a relatively small group of organisms, and after decades become experts in their area of study. But James can walk a trail and quickly move from snails to lichens, to vascular plants, to birds, to single cell protozoa, to arthropods, to fungi, to mosses, to amphibians and to almost everything in between. And he can identify and discuss them and their distinctions in depth and with incredible accuracy. If that sounds too unbelievable, he can also do this with reasonable precision over diverse geographic areas.

James is a natural science savant, and I mean that with the highest respect.

On top of all this natural history prowess, James is an incredibly nice and gentle person. Glad to call you my friend James!

Publicado por ronvanderhoff mais de 3 anos antes

Yeah, i really wish i got to go poke around the santa monica mountains with you! I thought i was a good botanist/ecologist, but i think you blew past me at some point there. Come to vermont some time, when corona virus is gone...

Publicado por charlie mais de 3 anos antes

@silversea_starsong you were among the first to help me with IDs when I first arrived on iNat and continue to be a huuuuge inspiration! Thank you for being you!

Publicado por ocean_beach_goth mais de 3 anos antes

What a cute interview!!! A truly inspiration!!

Publicado por diegoalmendras mais de 3 anos antes

Wonderful interview, James! Enjoyed meeting and iNatting with you in South Texas. You're an inspiration to all of us.

Publicado por tadamcochran mais de 3 anos antes

The interviews are fun. Would love to see more of them.

Publicado por janetwright mais de 3 anos antes

I second @janetwright that I look forward to more interviews! It was lovely to hear @silversea_starsong articulate what so many of us iNatters feel about the natural world--that while it's fun seeing the numbers of species and observations on our accounts go up, observing all the different macro- and micro-organisms that make up an ecosystem or habitat drives us, and is an utterly absorbing and engaging pursuit!

Publicado por chyroptera mais de 3 anos antes

Cool!

Publicado por suhandan1 mais de 3 anos antes

Wonderful to see this interview. I hope to see you in the field again!

Publicado por kimssight mais de 3 anos antes

A very enjoyable interview! I love that iNaturalist brings together people from all over the world who share the joy of biophilia. We learn so much from each other. Thanks, James, for all your contributions! No shame :)

Publicado por weecorbie mais de 3 anos antes

I remember when I unknowingly met James at SWRS in southeast Arizona. I had just cleaned a cabin and found a dragonfly covered in dust, so took a picture. He saw my observation, sought me out and told me what a cool dragonfly it was. Very cool interview James!

Publicado por dylapodiformes mais de 3 anos antes

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