Almost 6000 observations with no ID at all!

I've been pulling potential ILBBY observations out of "unknown" status for a couple weeks now and am finding it to be rewarding. Mixed in with the plants is an assortment of photos of bugs, birds and fungi, which, when directed to the right iNat community members via a Kingdom, Class, or Order ID, can readily find their way to Research Grade.

Take this observation, for example: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/27451796. It was posted on June 22, but had been languishing in "unknown" status for almost six months. On Dec. 14, I entered a Class ID (Insecta); I know nothing about insects but could discern that the observation of interest was likely not the plant. Three days later thebals IDed it as Family Syrphidae (= Hover Flies). Another three days later, jeremyhussell found the observation and IDed it to species (= Margined Calligrapher), and just this morning upupa-epops confirmed the species ID. Yay! From languishing unknown to Research Grade in ten days, thanks to the teamwork of the iNat community!

Around a week later we're around 20% done with the task. Huge thanks to @sedge @wildlandblogger @alex_abair @dziomber @kennedy9094 @rozhelfand @mcaple @michaelpirrello @missgreen @cehmoth @aispinsects @taco2000 @tanyuu @thebals @k2018lena @lupoli_roland @d_coulter @karimhaddad @jeremyhussell @thebirdnerd @matthias55 @wsweet321 @redgarter @sanguinaria33 @d2b @adriansydor @maureenclare @philipwoodscc and @rajibmaulick who have helped add IDs this past week.

Tagging a few other folks who have helped out with Illinois identification in the past. Can you help us get to no unknowns in Illinois in 2019? @prairiehobbit @naturalist_zeb @paulswitzer @elfaulkner @lotteryd @eattaway92 @psweet @greengenes @hazelnutman @roomthily @joshualincoln @wwmaes @maxallen @lmdalessio @rustybee @hobiecat @tkoffel @lincolndurey @oxalismtp @jhoekstra @andrewstpaul @trh_blue @sterrett

Link to help identify: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identify?iconic_taxa=unknown&order_by=random&place_id=35&year=2019

Do the cultivated plants count, such that should be labelled now, or can they be x'd unID'd for now?

We can confirm that adding a coarse ID is important. We have been going through Arthropods that have not yet been ID'd to order - still have 1800 pages to go! But we don't even see images if they don't say Arthropods or insects or some such. It would be great if the upload page required a base ID from the poster. Presumably the person who took the picture knows whether it is a plant or insect or some such.

It's >95% plant records now at <700 in the pile.

@trh_blue Oh my god what a cutie. My assistant is around the same size but she usually sits behind the laptop instead of in front.

You are all amazing. Thank you so much for helping with this unknowns backlog! We went from almost 6000 to around 300 observations with no label in just a week or so.

I've been using @pisum's helpful tool to view the top identifiers with a set of filters, e.g. this page, which shows people who made IDs from Dec 27th - Dec 29th of 2019 Illinois observations: https://jumear.github.io/stirfry/iNatAPIv1_identifications_identifiers.html?place_id=35&observed_d1=2019-01-01&d1=2019-12-27&d2=2019-12-29&own_observation=false

So, holy heck to @sterrett (1168 IDs), @lotteryd (1109 IDs), and @maxallen (666 IDs 😈), no idea how you can make so many IDs.

and big ol' thanks to @wildlandblogger @dziomber @trh_blue @k2018lena @oxalismtp @jeanphilippeb @malisaspring @kennedy9094 @missgreen @alex_abair @hazelnutman @paulswitzer @d2b @maureenclare and so many others for adding IDs recently.

oops yeah, had added that hastily (previously I was using only the d1 parameter without d2 since I know today is today, but adding d2 makes it a bit more accurate to my text stats if someone stumbles onto this in the future)

I am waiting for the other shoe to drop. Forty-nine other states could ask for help with Unknowns!