On the iNaturalist global leaderboards for December 2019

December in the more northerly parts of the Northern Hemisphere is usually not a great month for nature observations. However, starting on the 4th of December I was lucky enough to spend almost three weeks in Southwestern Florida -- Sanibel, which is a barrier island on the Gulf Coast, not far from Fort Myers.

Of course I love to try to find new-to-me, or better yet new-to-Sanibel species of shelled marine mollusk, and I like to look at all the other marine organisms that wash up on the beaches. Sanibel beaches are fortunately not "groomed"!

I also love to try to see new-to-me species of plants, and even new plant pests and plant diseases. I was lucky that I was able to get to a nature preserve on a very hot day, and get some pics of some interesting flying insects.

We had a lot of rain storms towards the end of our visit, which was not good for trying to examine the more tiny shells, or trying to see more flying insects. However, despite this, I found I was already on the global leaderboards for the month of December 2019, both for the total number of observations made, and for number of different species observed.

And when I came back to NYC, late on 23rd December, I knew if we got some reasonable weather (as was predicted) I could probably easily rack up a couple hundred more species here in the Big Apple, winter or not.

So that's what I did, and I finished the month still well positioned on December's leaderboards, with 3,027 observations of 587 species. I also was able to have fun with two iNat mini-meetups, one on Sanibel and one here in NYC, thanks to @jayhorn and @steven-cyclist!

Happy New Year to everyone! And happy iNatting!

Posted on January 1, 2020 10:06 PM by susanhewitt susanhewitt

Observations

Photos / Sounds

What

White Atlantic Semele (Semele proficua)

Observer

susanhewitt

Date

December 21, 2019 03:25 PM EST

Photos / Sounds

What

Cross-barred Venus (Chione elevata)

Observer

susanhewitt

Date

December 21, 2019 05:44 PM EST

Photos / Sounds

What

Atlantic Sea Pork (Aplidium stellatum)

Observer

susanhewitt

Date

December 22, 2019 02:30 PM EST

Photos / Sounds

What

Yellow Prickly Cockle (Dallocardia muricata)

Observer

susanhewitt

Date

December 22, 2019 02:31 PM EST

Photos / Sounds

What

Florida Fighting Conch (Strombus alatus)

Observer

susanhewitt

Date

December 22, 2019 02:51 PM EST

Photos / Sounds

What

Red Grapes (Botryocladia occidentalis)

Observer

susanhewitt

Date

December 22, 2019 02:52 PM EST

Photos / Sounds

Observer

susanhewitt

Date

December 22, 2019 03:19 PM EST

Photos / Sounds

What

Cayenne Keyhole Limpet (Diodora cayenensis)

Observer

susanhewitt

Date

December 22, 2019 03:20 PM EST

Photos / Sounds

What

Sea Oats (Uniola paniculata)

Observer

susanhewitt

Date

December 22, 2019 03:21 PM EST

Photos / Sounds

What

Indian Wax Scale (Ceroplastes ceriferus)

Observer

susanhewitt

Date

December 28, 2019 12:37 PM EST

Description

On a cultivated flowering quince bush.

Photos / Sounds

What

Ginkgo Spot (Bartheletia paradoxa)

Observer

susanhewitt

Date

December 28, 2019 12:52 PM EST

Photos / Sounds

What

Winged and Once-winged Insects (Subclass Pterygota)

Observer

susanhewitt

Date

December 28, 2019 01:05 PM EST

Photos / Sounds

What

Hellebore Leaf-Blotch (Microsphaeropsis hellebori)

Observer

susanhewitt

Date

December 31, 2019 03:43 PM EST

Photos / Sounds

What

Bacterial Crown Gall (Agrobacterium radiobacter)

Observer

susanhewitt

Date

December 31, 2019 03:48 PM EST

Photos / Sounds

Observer

susanhewitt

Date

December 31, 2019 03:49 PM EST

Photos / Sounds

Observer

susanhewitt

Date

December 31, 2019 03:55 PM EST

Description

Fungal leaf spot on Euonymus japonicus.

Photos / Sounds

What

Euonymus Scale (Unaspis euonymi)

Observer

susanhewitt

Date

December 31, 2019 03:56 PM EST

Description

On Euonymus japonicus. The white ones are the "crawlers".

Photos / Sounds

What

Pearlworts (Genus Sagina)

Observer

susanhewitt

Date

December 31, 2019 04:14 PM EST

Comments

For April 2020, I was also on the global leaderboards for total number of observations. That was in large part due to the City Nature Challenge, and my getting in training for that event!

Posted by susanhewitt over 3 years ago

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