Logging mammal sightings?
Dear all,
Forgive me in advance if this is a cross post and has been asked elsewhere – i couldn’t find it on a search through the forum (please do post a link in reply if so!). A question that has long floated around my head (as a birder, but with an increasing interest in mammals..) is how people in the mammal watching community log mammal sightings? eBird is by far the most used platform globally for birds, but for mammals, is there is a similar collective effort among mammal watchers in logging observations?
I’ve recently started using observation.org as the app is simple and database querying on the website is not too bad. I opted for this over iNat as that is more weighted towards images (although i understand one can have non image observations on iNat), and observation.org allows both. I wanted to know if anyone out there has had similar conversations? or if i am missing something that is perhaps widely done in the mammal world?
Cheers
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10 Comments
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JanEbr
Oh please don’t copy eBird to anything! eBird is actually a really terrible platform for sharing information between people, because it’s not designed for that and the people who run it have no intention of making it better for that. The checklist/hotspot system actively obscures specific locations and the lack of anything but rudimentary search function is by design.
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Jon Hall
Hi Sam, this is something we have talked about and Valentin Moser’s video here runs through the options https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EY3LlOcTe0&t=2s . When there’s an AI tool that can run through all the trip reports and automatically send sightings to inaturalist (or wherever) I will be delighted… I put my effort into writing reports which seems to suck up all my time, though occasionally upload something to inaturalist (though mainly when I am looking for help with – or reassurance about – the ID). Igoterra is one other option some people use that you didn’t mention. Sooner or later I hope they might all be linked in some way.
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Sam Jones
Thanks for the replies all – much food for thought and good to gather opinions. I personally think an eMammal/Macauley library system would be tremendous and the natural place for a global reporting tool – i would think there would be strong community buy-in for all the same reasons it has been enormously successful for birds. The researcher in me strongly wants a system that doesn’t gather just presence-only data for mammals (or biodiversity in general), but ultimately any/all reporting of observations is valuable!
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Moses Swanson the XVI
I log my mammals using a Google sheet. It is quite tedious to use but it is also good. For data. I’am also a birder and ebird is also a good site for birders. A sheet is good for data. I know that there are not to many people that would actively collect data other than me, or if its your job.
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Nvdgrint
I use observation.org. As I observe any species it allows you to log mammals, birds, reptiles, butterflies, etc with one app. It gives exact gps locations (unless you put it under embargo) and allows for photos and videos to be linked. By far the best site. eBird doesn’t even come close to this. Spread the word so we get way more data in the system.
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Daan Drukker
I am personnally very fond of Observation.org. I think the system is perfect, and the developpers (who work with a small team in the same office where I work) are making big steps in making the platform more international. You can use it as your digital notebook, where you can add observations. These observations can be (but do not have to be) accompanied with photos, sound recordings and links to videos and other sites. The observations are reviewed by a team of admins (voluntarily). I am an admin myself for Sciuridae, and I welcome all sightings, as they greatly improve my knowledge! Also if you have other species groups (in my case mainly mayflies Ephemeroptera).
If you are also enthousiastic and would like to start helping people on Observation.org with ID, feel free to drop me a message! I can arrange for people to become admins as well.
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Alan D
I use iNaturalist. I have gotten lots of help with IDs out there when needed which has been very helpful. Of course, I only post observations with pictures. I don’t know of any other site that allows mammal observations but if it’s out there I am sure someone will respond.