All-around amateur naturalist from Vancouver BC, currently studying Geological Sciences at Queen's University. Primarily interested in disjunct populations, ultramafic flora/serpentine endemics, glacial refugia, and convincing people not to rely on the iNat AI for identifications. I'm always trying to get out into the field as much as possible and learn further how to ID different taxa. Please tag me if you want me to explain any ID I've made, as I still make mistakes like everyone else. :)

I became a curator to add missing species to iNaturalist taxonomy and fix establishment statuses/common names - If you see a missing taxon that needs to be added, species to be marked as introduced, common name changed, etc. feel free to PM me instead of waiting weeks for a flag to be addressed. Happy to add any taxon providing it's accepted by the taxonomic authorities that iNat follows and isn't otherwise controversial or already flagged.

I'm currently in a big backlog of responding to notifications -- I will catch up eventually.

iNat tips/tricks:

• iNaturalist Photo Guide - Tips, tricks, and guides to help get your sightings identified (BC Parks iNaturalist Project)
• When uploading any plant parasite (galls, rust fungi, etc.), put the host plant scientific name in the description or use the 'Host Plant ID' observation field as most parasitic insects/mites/fungi only parasitize single plant genera.

iNat Search URL Filter tips/tricks:

• How to use iNaturalist Search URLs Wiki - Immensely useful resource to narrow down your searches. A few shortcuts below:
• &unobserved_by_user_id=yourusername - filter for only species you haven't seen
• &introduced=false&hrank=species - exclude introduced species (only show natives and those not yet marked as introduced or native within a jurisdiction)
• &per_page=200 - on Identify pages, change 30 results per page to 200
• iNat Compare Tool - Use search filters to create different lists and find the differences between them. Extremely wide range of uses from tracking out-of-range observations to finding species only recorded in a place in the current year. Example - species of a few dicot orders that had their first research-grade observation in British Columbia in 2022.

Projects I've started:

• British Columbia Endemics - tracking observations of BC's 140+ endemic species.
• BC Vascular Plants with <4 RG observations - Vascular Plants of BC with an exclusion filter of all native species with more than 3 research-grade observations from the province.
• BC Vertebrates with 5 or less RG observations - Vertebrates of BC with an exclusion filter of all species with more than 5 research-grade observations from the province.
• Hybrids without iNat Taxa - cataloguing observations of hybrid organisms that are not yet in iNaturalist taxonomy.
• ABA Continental Rare Birds - project search filter for observations of bird species Code 4+ on the ABA checklist or not on the list.

Lists I've put together, mostly of remote island endemics to find species missing from iNat taxonomy:

• British Columbia Extirpated Species
• List of British Columbia Endemics
• Trindade Island Endemics
• Amsterdam & Saint Paul Island Endemics
• Easter Island Terrestrial Endemics
• Saint Peter and Saint Paul Archipelago Endemics
• Bouvet Island - Full Terrestrial List
• Malpelo Island Endemics
• Socotra Archipelago Outer Islands Endemics (Abd al Kuri, Samha, & Darsa)
• Ascension Island Terrestrial Endemics
• Commander Islands Endemics
• British Columbia Freshwater Fish unrecorded on iNat

Collection Projects: A way of tracking observations within selected parameters/species lists

• Freshwater Fish of British Columbia - tracking observations of B.C.'s freshwater fish species.
• Extinct in The Wild Taxa - all species currently listed as EW by the IUCN and other authorities.
• Vagrant Mammals - observations of mammals that have strayed outside their usual range, from a Humpback Whale in downtown Montreal to a Southern Elephant Seal in the swamps of Ecuador.
• Marine Reptiles - marine reptile species.
• Cave Fishes of the World - tracking observations of all troglobitic fish species.
• Legless Lizards of the World - all lizard species with vestigial or absent limbs. Some species of lizards have even evolved into legless lizards, then re-evolved legs independently.
• Monotypic Families - all vertebrate families that have only one extant species.

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