I hit 100 new species on iNaturalist in 2026 so far
It took me just over a month to hit 100 new species IDed on iNaturalist in 2026.
In 2026 I've had a lot less agency over my time and schedule. We're still living away from our home, which requires us to sometimes burn an entire day driving around handling chores related to the construction at our house. If crucial mail or a package is delivered to the home we're not currently living in, we also need to drive over there and grab it, which takes so much time that it pretty much eliminates our ability to work at home that day. Living in a family member's home has also made it difficult for us to exercise agency over our schedule. As a result of both of these things, I spend much more of my time traveling from place to place, and a lot more time in the car.
The other side of the coin however is that traveling a lot means that I have more opportunities to go divert my journey a bit and take pictures of plants. And driving repeatedly through NELA on the 10 freeway definitely drew my attention to hikes I could take in that area. I don't think I would have hit 100 species if I'd been working regular hours at home 5 days out of every week.
That said, I'm becoming completely exhausted by this kind of traveling and I cannot wait to return to a life where I work in predictable and controllable contexts every single day. I have spent the last 15 years working like that; I definitely prefer it. Heavy iNaturalist use has definitely been a symptom of my current unworkable lifestyle rather than a wholly positive development in my life.
The majority of the 100 new species I observed were definitely plants. However, a small but significant percentage were insects and birds. Most of these were however insects and birds I was personally familiar with, but hadn't previously photographed. It turns out that taking a picture of a bird is really, really hard!!
In fact, the biggest reason I am focusing on plants is that they do not move. My eyesight is not particularly good, and if I've had a recent heavy fluctuation in blood glucose, my vision can even become temporarily blurry. I also wear glasses, and I don't really enjoy using binoculars with them. Luckily plants don't move, you can get right up to them, and they do not complain when you touch them. (I have come perilously close to touching pacific poison oak several times this year, though.)
I suspect this may be an insane peak of observations that I'm unlikely to replicate at any point throughout the year. But when I move back to my home on the west side of the city, I'm hoping to perhaps see a lot of coastal stuff I haven't previously observed. Here's hoping I continue to want to do any of this once my life is normal again!!!