Humanity is exalted not because we are so far above living creatures, but because knowing them well elevates the very concept of life. --E. O. Wilson, Biophilia, 1984

Like Wilson, I grew up mostly in Alabama, wandering in the woods interacting with all manner of creatures and plants. I have had the good fortune to travel a lot but also to be able to explore deeply and daily a rich local habitat. I am constantly amazed at the variety of living things that I keep surprising me.

I especially try to record incursions of invasive/ destructive species, especially if they are newly arrived (spotted lanternfly) or spreading recently in our area (beech leaf disease, which is advancing with startling speed in northern New Jersey.

Occasionally I focus listing as many of a particular rarely listed species as I can (Kurtziella cerina; ice cream cone worm; Plicate mangelia) to try to boost the records available to the iNaturalist AI to help train it to recognize future postings. This may skew the record to make a single beach look like a global hotspot for a species, but hopefully, once the AI can recognize the species many more records will show up in other places.

I am grateful to all the identifiers and specialists out there who teach me so well through their constant input to iNaturalist. Thanks for your efforts and your patience.