I’ve seen some cool animals and plants and stuff and I’m trying to keep seeing more :)

🦆I began outdoors naturalism as a “proper” hobby in 2016 with birding. I am an intermediate birder with a little over 100 on the life list, and can probably identify most birds which occur regularly in the NE USA

🐍 🐸 🦌 I have also done some herping and seen some cool mammals; since our region has relatively few species of all three groups, I can maybe identify half or more. I have seen 7 reptile, 7 amphibian, and 13 mammal species in the NE USA

🐞 I got into bugs big time in 2020 thanks to iNat; insects easily make up the majority of my observations, and I’ve seen over 200 species. I am always learning but I can currently ID a good hundred or so NE USA insects very confidently on sight, and maybe several hundred using keys or less confidently. I can identify insects to family decently well

🕷 🦪 🪱 I can identify a random smattering of other NE USA animals, but not very many. I have seen 25 NE USA spider species, most notably, but my ID skills are not great!

🌱 I took a deep dive into botany in 2022, though I’ve been observing plants seriously since iNat in 2020. I’ve observed over 100 species; almost all of them are Angiosperms, of course. I can confidently identify a semi-random smattering, including lots of weedy plants, but am still very new

🍄 I haven’t taken a proper deep dive into mycology yet, unfortunately. I have just over 10 species observed! But I can identify a few and can assign others to genus, family, or, if all else fails, Basidiomycota :)

My primary passion my entire life has been animals, but I have always loved wildlife in general. Birding and iNat, along with other resources, opened my eyes to the fact that wildlife did not just exist in books or documentaries or websites, but out there to be seen with my own eyes. I will never look back! For the rest of my life, I’ll never look at a cool species again without aching to identify and photograph it. The species on this planet are, without a single exception, freaking gorgeous! I will never tire of taking it all in