Characters and traits

For these observations I was careful to take multiple photos. For some I was able to get different angles of the species which is really helpful for identification. For example, the two photos of the Silvery Blue butterfly show what both the top and bottom sides of the wings look like. These clear photos helped in identifying the butterfly and getting the right ID. Initially the consensus was an Echo Azure butterfly which looks very similar except the spots on the wings aren't as uniform as the species in the observation. A very helpful user came by and pointed this out and provided the correct ID.
Multiple photos are helpful for identifying trees as well. In the past I have posted an observation with only a single zoomed out photo of a tree and it wasn't identified because for some trees (like pines) in order to get species level identification you need to look at the leaves, bark, cones etc. On my trips this weekend I was especially careful to take various pictures when I was making an observation for a tree. The observation for a California buckeye exemplifies this, as it has a photo taken from afar as well as close ups of the leaves and bark.

Posted on March 17, 2014 09:01 PM by marisa