About #InverteFest
This journal entry is written for the seasoned iNaturalist users. For a more general, laypeople friendly intro to the event, go to https://invertefest.com
What is #InverteFest?
InverteFest is a periodic online event where we invite you to celebrate the overlooked invertebrate fauna around you and share the joys of discovery online. It mostly happens on the founders' (@franzanth, @kellybrenner, @maureenbug) social media accounts. The celebration includes various activities like posting artwork, sharing insect-themed accessories, playing crab video games, writing wikipedia pages, and so on.
These days, we post exclusively on bluesky. Feel free to adapt the event to your preferred social platform, if you want to celebrate in your own way.
InverteFest on iNaturalist
On iNaturalist, #InverteFest takes form as seasonal bioblitzes to encourage people to survey the changes to their local fauna throughout the years. Our bioblitzes happen 3 times a year: throughout the last 7 days of April, August, and December.
We will always have projects set up around the beginning of the month. The project name is always #InverteFest (Month) (Year) so you could search it easily. For example, here's the current project: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/invertefest-april-2024
More activities:
For people who can't go out, here are some #InverteFest activities worth considering:
- Franz needs help identifying butterfly & moth life stages in Indonesia. We lack good guides on caterpillar and pupa, so being able to filter the different life stages on iNat will help him identify species in the future. Link here: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identify?&order_by=random&captive=false&without_taxon_id=61414&taxon_id=47157&without_term_id=1&place_id=6966
- Franz runs a project called "Bug Pics for Art Refs", a curated gallery of photos that show rare angles or anatomical features aimed to help artists understand invertebrates better. This project features hand-picked observations, so DM him if you're interested in contributing. Link here: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/bug-pics-for-art-refs
