Random Thoughts About my 10,000th iNat Observation
Different people are motivated in life by different things. In my life I have had many motivations... finishing college; getting kicked out of graduate school; mastering my craft as a headhunter, then trainer of headhunters; seeing every MLB park; running 50+ marathons, including 10 Bostons; trying to raise two kids; dealing with my health; birding.
Birding remains a strong motivation for how I spend my free time, but it has lead to more. First, it lead to thinking about bird habitat and conservation, which has become my LaBagh Woods volunteer efforts, and that, lead directly to learning to ID and name more than just birds. Why not put a name to everything in nature. If you can't name it, can you really show it proper respect?
I found iNaturalist.org three years ago almost to the day, and learned this app and online tool could help me log for science, all that I photographed and saw in nature. Those observations will become a record, a legacy, a reminder of what was once living here on Spaceship Earth in my little patch of the world, or the places I ventured into away from my patch.
Observe and log I did. Tonight I achieved my goal of recording my 10,000th iNat observation in three years. Who cares? Maybe no one. Maybe the future. Maybe science, whatever that actually means. Doing this gives me purpose for the observations I make, even if it is just one of the 3372 observations of 970 species I have seen at LaBagh, my patch; or if it is one of the 79 Illinois endangered or threatened species of flora and fauna I have been lucky enough to observe while they are still observable in the wild here in Illinois.
What was my 10,000th observation? I planned for it to be a Cerulean Warbler (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/26729553) I saw with my friends Skillethead and Jonas. What was my 10,001st observation? A Loggerhead Shrike (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/26730033) I saw with the same two friends three hours later. Both are endangered or threatened species here in Illinois. Though I have seen both numerous times, it is a thrill to find both species EVERY time I do. It doesn't get old or boring, I don't think it ever will.
Where do I go from here? 20,000 observations of course! More to observe, and more need to observe it, and record it now more than ever. The iNat software tells me I have seen 2596 species of living things since I have been engaged in this effort. I would like to hit 10,000 species. Then maybe 20,000 species. Can one actually put a name to that many living wild organisms, when they didn't start until their mid-50s?
I guess time and motivation will tell.
