My intended career in coastal ecology & conservation was sidelined by chronic illness. I focused my studies in college on fishes, crustaceans, and birds. I've been broadening my knowledge of plants, insects, spiders, and herps since then. Also finally learning how to ID fungi. I love being able to contribute as a citizen scientist. Besides iNaturalist I've also been contributing to eBird for several years. Recently I've been focusing on learning bird songs.

Since 2018 I've been living within the Big Thicket area of southeast Texas. I volunteer for Watson Rare Native Plant Preserve which is near the Big Thicket National Preserve Turkey Creek Unit. I help trim trails and co-lead educational walks. I'm also the curator for the Watson Preserve project here on iNaturalist.
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/watson-preserve

Feel free to tag me for help with IDs. If I don't respond, it's not that I didn't see it, I just don't know the ID. Sometimes I'm high on the leader board for a species but I still can't help you. These cases are usually because there are look alike species east of the Mississippi that are difficult to differentiate (and may often be left at genus level there). Fewer species here on the west side makes it easier to ID.
Heat map of my IDs: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/map?ident_user_id=lappelbaum#2/0/0
Identifier stats: https://jumear.github.io/stirfry/iNat_identifier_stats.html?user_id=lappelbaum
IDs for others: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?ident_user_id=lappelbaum&not_user_id=lappelbaum

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