By Aileen Petrozzi and Ellen van Wageningen

Essex County Field Naturalists’ Club members now have a new way to connect and share sightings. The club has started a project on iNaturalist, one of the world’s most popular apps for identifying plants and animals, as well as sharing information as citizen scientists.

Some club members have been using iNaturalist for years. Many of us are new to it and finding this is the perfect time to practise, as we wait for COVID-19 restrictions to be lifted.

The Membership Committee has set up the Essex County Field Naturalists’ Club Observations project so members can share nature sightings and see what others are observing in Windsor and Essex. At the same time, they can harness the expertise of millions of others using the iNaturalist platform.

The photo shown here of a bold jumping spider is by Tom Preney, who gave a presentation about iNaturalist at a monthly membership meeting in February 2020. He has joined the Essex County Field Naturalists’ Club Observations project, so all his sightings are listed there, including the details about the bold jumping spider.

We want to make it easy and fun for members to benefit from Tom’s expertise and that of many other club members who are knowledgeable about different plants and animals of all kinds.

A good place to begin is the Getting Started page on iNaturalist. The Membership Committee is looking for a coordinator who can help other club members navigate iNaturalist once they’ve set up an account and practised a little. When we are able to meet in person, the committee plans to schedule hikes and other events so members can practise together.

In the meantime, committee member Carl Maiolani has taken on the role of acting coordinator and can be reached at .

If you are interested in being the iNaturalist project coordinator for the club, contact me at .

Below are the details of the project, instructions for joining iNaturalist and more information about the coordinator’s role.

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Essex County Field Naturalists’ Club iNaturalist Project Plan

Overview

The purpose of this project is to create a place for Essex County Field Naturalists’ Club members to share nature sightings and see what other members are observing in Windsor and Essex County.

Goals

• Have an area in iNaturalist for members to view and share their observations.
• Help members learn how to use iNaturalist to share and identify their observations.
• Produce quality citizen science data about Windsor and Essex County for research and conservation.

Coordinator’s Role

The success of this project requires a champion who will encourage and assist club members to participate in the iNaturalist project. The coordinator can be new to iNaturalist™ and learn to use it with other members. However, the coordinator should be knowledgeable enough about smartphones and computers to help with troubleshooting basic technical issues.

Coordinator’s Responsibilities

• Help club members learn and practise using the iNaturalist app and website by conducting workshops and hikes.
• Act as the club’s contact person for members with questions about the app.
• Encourage club members to use iNaturalist and add their observations into the club’s project.
• Participate in board and membership committee meetings as needed.

Instructions for using iNaturalist

Download the iNaturalist app: https://www.inaturalist.org/pages/getting+started

Make an observation with your iPhone

• Tap observe.
• Add one or more photos as evidence.
• Choose what you saw.
• When you saw it should be added automatically.
• Where you saw it should be added automatically. If it does not, check Privacy in your Settings.
• Save your observation.
• Upload to share with the community. This should happen automatically. If it doesn’t, tap the Upload button. You can turn off automatic upload from the app settings from the Me tab.
• Check back for activity on your observation from the community or be notified by email to the address in your account settings.

Make an Observation with your Android

• Tap the observe button from the My Observations tab.
• Add one or more photos as evidence.
• Choose what you saw.
• When you saw it should be added automatically.
• Where you saw it should be added automatically. If this doesn’t happen, check app permissions in your Settings.
• Save your observation.
• Sync to share with the community. This should happen automatically. If it doesn’t, tap the button. You can turn off auto upload from the Settings tab.
• Check back for activity on your observation from the community or be notified by email to the address in your account settings.

Make an observation from the Web

• Start by clicking the green Upload button from the header when you are logged in.
• From the upload page, begin by dragging in one or more photos. Each photo will create an “observation card” that you can edit before submitting.
• You can also use the “Add” button in the upper left to create observation cards without photos or the “More Import options” menu to upload a CSV or import from external sites.

How to Join the Club’s Project

1. Android
2. Tap the three vertical bars at the top.
3. Go to Projects.
4. Go to Search.
5. Type in Essex County Field Naturalists’ Club Observations.
6. Pick the project.
7. Join.

• iPhone
• Tap More in the bottom left corner.
• Tap Projects.
• Search for the Essex County Field Naturalists’ Club Observations.
• Tap the ECFNC Observations project.
• Tap Join at the top of the project.

• Web
• Go to Community at top of page.
• Go to Projects.
• Search for Essex County Field Naturalists’ Club Observations.
• Join.

Use of Photos and Observations by the Club

The Essex County Field Naturalists’ Club will not republish photos posted to the project without the permission of the observers who submitted them. Information about observations may be shared in digital and other communications with club members, as well as on the club’s website. The club will adhere to the iNaturalist Privacy Policy.

Timetable

• Mid-April: Notice to membership about the project in the Member Update and invitation to join to help test it.
• Mid-April and May: Soft launch with board members, suggest a possible coordinator or coordinators.
• May board meeting: Get board members feedback and make any changes.
• June: Launch to members and community.
• After June: Help and encourage members to use iNaturalist through an article about interesting observations in The Egret issue in June and/or September.