iNat Intro: Using iNat to Scout for Hiking Sites

This is meant to be a resource to introduce my students to the site and to supplement an "Intro to iNat" program I'm giving. If you're already an active iNat user, you probably don't need this (but if you're planning to do a program of your own or are trying to brainwash friends and neighbors, feel free to link people here).

Let's use the iNaturalist website ( https://www.inaturalist.org/home ) to scout for neat places to see wildflowers.

These Blue-Eyed Marys were so cool!! https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/108975261
Are there other good places nearby to see them?

Search "Collinsia verna" and once you're viewing the observations, add "Kentucky" as the location: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=26&taxon_id=116349

Now switch from grid view of the observations to map view: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=26&subview=map&taxon_id=116349

Enlarge the map to focus on the northern Kentucky area, and look for clusters of points: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?nelat=39.16903114922266&nelng=-84.23984697559932&place_id=any&subview=map&swlat=38.780416012284675&swlng=-84.95395830372432&taxon_id=116349

Scanning around the map in the northern Kentucky area, you can see several clusters of Blue-Eyed Mary observations that usually center on parks, for example:
Gunpowder Creek Nature Park
Flagship Park
Withrow Nature Preserve
Woodland Mound Park

If you click on a point, you can see the observation that was made (or if you click on an observation in the list to the side, it will highlight the point on the map).

Which of these places might be fun to hike?
Gunpowder Creek Nature Park sounds interesting, but...
Not all places are defined in iNat's maps. If you try adding "Gunpowder Creek Nature Park" into the "location" field next to "Collinsia verna", nothing pops up.

Let's try something else. Replace "Collinsia verna" with "plant" (you'll get Plantae) to broaden your search, and then click the "filters" button to get some advanced search options. In the "Descriptions / Tags" field, add "Gunpowder Creek Nature Park." This will limit records to observations including that phrase. If you're worried that the name is too general and you may get observations you don't want, you can also go down to the "Place" field under the "More filters" and enter "Kentucky" to limit where observations can come from. Click "search" and we get 80+ observations, mostly of spring wildflowers:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=26&q=Gunpowder%20Creek%20Nature%20Park&taxon_id=47126

If you click the "species" tab rather than the "observations" tab, you'll get the results organized by which species are most commonly observed:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=26&q=Gunpowder%20Creek%20Nature%20Park&taxon_id=47126&view=species
It looks like there's lots of Phlox, Mayapple, Larkspur, Trout Lily, and Trillium at this site (in addition to our Blue-Eyed Mary).
Gunpowder Creek Nature Park looks like a fun place to hike.

Posted on July 25, 2024 02:23 PM by m_whitson