jstarspots's Journal

It's that (irregular) Spring time again, when we spend a four day weekend iNatting as much stuff as possible!

I take rough, geotagged and sometimes digi-binned photos on my phone when I'm out. Then I upload them to iNat when I'm in.

I hashtag these all, #GSB2024. Partly to raise awareness of the event, but partly as a reminder that it might be a far less interesting observation than I'd normally make. For the #GSB2024 it's all about volume, not description!

International leader board here:
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/great-southern-bioblitz-2024-umbrella

Tassie project here - join up and the weekend observations will all be "badged." This helps others get to know about the event.
https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/projects/great-southern-bioblitz-2024-tasmania

Heaps of iNat observations loiter in limbo because users upload them without any associated ID of any kind. As someone who isn't an expert in many fields of ID, if any, this is a space I can still be useful at. I know what's a plant, mammal, bird, fungi etc. Sometimes I know ID to a lower level. So adding general IDs is something I can do to help out. I've started posting this message when I do it:

I'm just adding a general ID to help this observation reach those who can ID it further.
https://help.inaturalist.org/en/support/solutions/articles/151000185912-how-to-refine-observations-stuck-at-a-high-taxonomic-level

I'm just adding a general ID of "Life" so I can annotate with "gall" to help this observation reach those who can ID it further. Providing info on the host plant will help too.
https://help.inaturalist.org/en/support/solutions/articles/151000185912-how-to-refine-observations-stuck-at-a-high-taxonomic-level
https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/projects/australian-galls

I'm just adding a general ID and annotation "scat" to help this observation reach those who can ID it further.
https://help.inaturalist.org/en/support/solutions/articles/151000185912-how-to-refine-observations-stuck-at-a-high-taxonomic-level

Basically I'm doing step 5.

If you want to try your hand at improving the quality of iNat data by IDing the "unknown" you can use the filters on observations to only show what "needs ID" and is "unknown."

iNat has also put together a helpful copy-paste set of comments for a range of situations:
https://www.inaturalist.org/pages/responses#addid

I love the Turbo Chook (Tasmanian Native Hen - Tribonyx mortierii) and I think it's vastly under-represented in observations. I know this is partly because it's common, so people aren't as likely to observe it.

And I know that it has its distribution better documented on eBird.
https://ebird.org/australia/species/tanhen1

But I also think that iNat is an interesting way to pin observations down geographically. As the Turbo Chook is fairly large and very identifiable, I'm working on making as many observations of them across areas I travel. Not every turbo, but groups spaced far enough apart that they might be a different territory or tribe.

I'm also doing this for the Australian Swamphen (Porphyrio melanotus ssp. melanotus) who is nowhere near as easily observed in Tasmania.

So if you're pondering why so many Turbo posts, that's why.

So I'm interested in the local ducks - they have so much variety! But also quite aware of their evil, rapey hybridisation ways. Mallards x Pacific Black Ducks, particularly.

I'm loving this project - dob in your feral ducks: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/mallards-hybrids-in-australia

There's also this worldwide one:
https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/projects/muddled-ducks

So for the minute this is just where I'm keeping links to papers/articles I think are interesting.

A great article showing ways to spot a hybrid from ebird aus:
https://ebird.org/australia/news/identifying-mallard-x-pacific-black-duck-hybrids

I really found Tamieka's collection of iNaturalist sightings helpful when thinking about the variety of ducks out there in hybrid land:
https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/journal/tamika_lunn/50373-differentiating-ducks-native-mallard-and-mallard-hybrids

The end of this paper has a great range of images of the diversity of heads and wings of PBDxMallard hybrids, and recognises a spectrum.
https://www.birdsnz.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Williams_66_45-63.pdf

Excepting the Muscovy, domestic breeds of ducks are mallards, in the same way very diverse looking dog breeds are all the same species. This helped me think more about the wild variety of forms I see at my local lake. Here's a list of domestic breeds for further investigation:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_duck_breeds
And breed image tiles including size/weight of ducks:
https://poultrykeeper.com/duck-breeds/

And a quick look poster showing 16 mallard breeds:
https://www.etsy.com/au/listing/492718966/a4-posters-breeds-of-ducks

1992 S.Aus paper showing facial markings:
http://birdssa.asn.au/images/saopdfs/Volume31/1992V31P103.pdf

To get into other duck hybrids:

Mallards vs Muscovies:
https://inaturalist.ca/journal/that_bug_guy/71906-mallard-x-muscovy-duck-way-out-waterfowl