Trying Abbreviations in Species Searches

I'm just discovering this! How come it took me so long??? (I hear Millennials and Gen X/Y/Z's groaning...)

Many, many times per day, I search for a particular taxon, species, genus, etc., either among my own observations or elsewhere on various iNat pages. In some settings (when?), I need to be pretty exact, avoiding typos, to get the correct species or group. But I've just learned that at least on the Explore page and the Suggest an Identification tab on observations, some creative, short abbreviations may get you to a desired species name pretty quickly. Below are some examples I've used recently. Some variations are really useful because the name is relatively unique; others may bring up a short list of matches from which you can select your target. Some just flop. It's all an experiment for me right now.

"st dai" brings Straggler Daisy to the top of a list.

"pet can" gets Canadian Petrophila (Petrophila canadensis) as 3rd choice, while
"pet canad" gets it to the top of the list.
"can pet" gets me Canadian Petrophila as the 2nd suggestion on the list, while
"cana pet" gets it to the top of the list.

"fea e" gets the Feather-edged Petrophila as 3rd choice, whereas
"fea ed" gets Feather-edged Petrophila uniquely.
"fulical" gets me Feather-edged Petrophila (Petrophila fulicalis) as 2nd choice.

"cis ten" brings Thin-banded Lichen Moth (Cisthene tenuifascia) to the top of a list, as does "thi lic"

Birds in North America have long had the advantage of being known by standardized 4-letter codes which are recognized in iNat's search boxes, but the irregular ones sometimes trip me up. For instance, while "CACW" gets you right to Cactus Wren, that irregular abbreviation (not "CAWR") may slip my mind. Happily, "cac wr" brings Cactus Wren to the top of the list, as does "cam bru" (for Campylorhynchus brunneicapillus, which is always fresh on my mind).

Experiment with your most frequent taxon searches and see how many keystrokes you can save!

Posted on July 11, 2024 10:55 PM by