Identification milestone
Today I reached a milestone in IDs.
While identifying I filter to my county and 4 adjacent counties (Barnstable, Plymouth, Bristol, Nantucket, and Dukes, MA) as to only be looking at flora and fauna I'm most familiar with, not filtered to any specific taxa, and I've just completed reviewing all observations within that criterion.
I don't have exact numbers for what I've reviewed as observations that are now research grade aren't included in this list but it is greater than 4,443 pages or 133,290 observations. It's taken a couple years of steady ID'ing to get through and the irony is that I now know how to identify probably a few hundred more species than when I started so there are undoubtedly many observations I "missed". As of today I have added 11,751 identifications within this geographical area, which makes the counties light up light a lite brite, which is kind of cool.
Overall it was a great exercise to get repeated exposure to our common species, practice identification skills, and encourage learning new species either by digging through literature for an observation (thank you GoBotany and Salicicola) or communication with users here on iNat. A few common themes that I noticed; our salt-tolerant bushes were greatly neglected (Iva frutescens and Baccharis hamifolia), as were cordgrasses and pickleweeds, and nobody wants to commit to the identification of those darn dewberries (Rubus hispidus or flagellaris).
Now what?
