iNaturalist in the Discovery Islands
Do you enjoy taking photos of plants, animals, and fungi you see while out exploring nature in the Discovery Islands? Scientists want to see those photos!
Help document and celebrate biodiversity in the Discovery Islands by contributing photo observations to iNaturalist.
What is iNaturalist?
iNaturalist is a free community science app and website used worldwide to share observations of nature, learn about species identification, and connect with other naturalists.
Take photo of a plant, animal, seaweed, fungus—any living organism you find—using a phone or camera and then upload those images to the app or website. Signs of life such as nests, tracks, and sound recordings of calls can also be submitted as observations.
iNaturalist’s image recognition technology can help identify species from photos, or at least point you down the right path: upload a few photos of different angles and features and iNaturalist will provide ID suggestions for you to choose from. Other knowledgeable iNaturalist users can then confirm or correct identifications.
By contributing observations to iNaturalist, you create an interactive record of your outdoor explorations and learn more about the species you encounter, all while helping improve scientists’ understanding of biodiversity in the Discovery Islands, such as species at risk and invasive species.
All observations made in the Discovery Islands and surrounding marine and watershed region will be automatically added to a Discovery Islands iNaturalist project. Visit the project page to learn more about the region’s biodiversity and see what’s been found so far.
Hakai’s partners at the University of Victoria and Simon Fraser University are spearheading the BC Parks iNaturalist Project to catalogue species throughout B.C.’s provincial parks and protected areas. When you use iNaturalist in Rebecca Spit, Main Lake, or any other Discovery Island provincial park your observations are also added to the BC Parks iNaturalist Project.
How to submit observations
You only need three things to get started with iNaturalist:
- An iNaturalist account (Sign up for free at inaturalist.ca).
- A camera or smartphone to capture your observations.
- A computer or smartphone to upload the photos you take to your account. You can use the free iNaturalist mobile app for iOS and Android, or upload your observations directly to inaturalist.ca.
Learn more
- Watch our Citizen Science with iNaturalist in the Discovery Islands webinar (below)
- Check out iNaturalist’s Getting Started guide
- Download the BC Parks Foundation’s iNaturalist Toolkit for tips and tricks to make good observations, species bingo cards, and an observation calendar
- Visit Discovery Island Ecosystem Mapping to learn about species at risk, invasive species, and typical flora and fauna
Webinar: Citizen Science with iNaturalist in the Discovery Islands
Observation Highlights
A small sample of some of the fantastic flora and fauna observed by community scientists in the Discovery Islands. Share your observations with by emailing biodiversity [at] hakai.org or tagging @hakaiinstitute on iNaturalist.
