Joined: Jul 23, 2023 Last Active: Sep 7, 2024 iNaturalist
I am considering myself as an advanced amateur naturalist by now. I have no relevant professional experience, but have learned a lot about insect identification autodidactically.
When I started using INat, I was trying to map all species I could find on my property and immediate surrounding.
Quickly, I found myself identifying a lot, basically every insect species I felt confident recognizing.
I would recommend this to other amateurs as well. It is a good way of learning about the species and will also help you make better pictures in the future, as you get to know what features to look out for.
Advise: Don't follow the AI suggestions blindly, but make an effort to consult books or online sources for identification! And don't be disappointed that not all observations can be ID'ed to species level. In some cases it's just not possible from pictures alone. It's better to leave an observation at genus level than to make an unsafe guess at species level.
I use the following books for my identifications:
For other insects I use online sources (see journal).
PS: Since the issue came up a few times:
If I add a higher level ID to your observation, it is not necessarily a disagreement. I am simply trying to stick to the best guess possible for my level of knowledge.
sirhck is not following anyone.