Little project that could

It's been almost 5 years now since our humble project was born on iNaturalist, and my our baby has grown!
Over a thousand observers and well on our way to 7,000 observations in the not too distant future. Quite a few range extensions as well.

It seem our native freshwater mollusks keep generating more and more interest in nature enthusiasts, citizens scientists and even a few academics. This field of science is still very much a young one, a world in need of explorations, filled with unknowns and discoveries in waiting, so we expect quite a few more surprises in the years ahead.

The year is at an end once again, so before the Holidays are upon us it is a good time to give heartfelt thanks to all contributors that have sent in their observations, no matter how few, but also to another, smaller group of precious collaborators, our handful of dedicated identifiers, who spend way too many hours of their free time scrutinizing hundreds of fuzzy photographs in search of subtle clues to help certify an iD. I hereby name our three main trusty musketeer's, Paul @pdsmith , Sam @sam10turner , and the dogged, cross-border, semi-anonymous mussel-hound Minnesotan @amr_mn , to name only a few of those upstanding iNat dwellers. Those enthusiastic debaters have lent me a most welcome hand in processing the tsunami of observations that have poured in over the last year, just when the task was getting overwhelming, so a huge thank you to you guys!

Merry Holydays to each and all, and stay safe.

Cheers,

Dr. Phil

Posted on December 20, 2021 01:23 AM by redgarter