One of the many interesting things about settling into a new home is discovering the wildlife in your new surroundings. My husband and I just moved into a lake house with a fair bit of wooded area. Since we’re not native to this area, there are many plants and animals that we’re not able to identify. That’s where the Seek app comes to the rescue.
Seek is a mobile app used to identify plants and animals. It was created by the team at iNaturalist who created the original browser-based nature identification application. Their website introduces iNaturalist as “a global community of naturalists, scientists, and members of the public sharing wildlife sightings to teach one another about the natural world while creating high quality citizen science data for science and conservation.” The cool thing about their Seek app is it works with several modern technologies to help you identify wildlife. Seek works with the camera on your mobile phone to let you capture photos of a subject. It leverages location identification services to identify the general area where the photo was taken. Then Seek uses image recognition software to look for similarities between your photo and the reference photos in the iNaturalist database.
Seek also uses gaming features to increase the “fun factor”. Here’s how iNaturalist positions Seek:
“Take your nature knowledge up a notch with Seek! Seek encourages outdoor exploration and learning by harnessing image recognition technology to help you identify plants and animals from your photos.
Choose from a list of nearby plants, animals, and fungi and collect photographs of as many species as you can!
. Earn badges as you photograph new species.
. Become more engaged with the wildlife around you.
. Learn cool facts about the critters and plants that live right in your own backyard wilderness.”
Obviously, Seek is great for children but it’s also useful for curious adults. I’d like to share some of my own experiences using Seek.
After taking the below photo, I wanted to know the correct name of this fern.
During my online research, I came across iNaturalist and decided to give it a try. I entered my photo as an observation and followed the prompts to attempt identification. I thought it was likely Ebony Spleenwort (Asplenium platyneuron) and submitted my observation with the suggested identification. Within the day, an iNaturalist curator identified the fern as Christmas Fern (Polystichum acrostichoides).
While using iNaturalist, I learned about their Seek app and decided to put it to the test. I went back to the fern glade to study the ferns more carefully. Sure enough, when I examined the mature leaves it was a clear match to the Christmas Fern photos. Then I took a new photo with my iPhone showing the mature fern leaves and submitted my observation via Seek. Instantly, Seek came back with a match. Impressive!
My next opportunity to use Seek occurred a few weeks later when I took the below photo at Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain, Georgia. This time I wanted to identify the bee sitting on the white azalea flower.
Seek immediately recognized this as the Common Eastern Bumble Bee.
Recently, I noticed an army of caterpillars on a tree next to the deck at our new house. This time I didn’t just want to identify a subject in a photo; I wanted to know what to do about all those caterpillars chomping away on the leaves. Seek easily identified the culprits as Catalpa Sphinx (Deratomia catapae) which is a type of hawk moth. I was able to use this information for further research and discovered the caterpillars would attack only the catalpa tree. Thankfully, while they will defoliate the tree, they do not cause permanent damage. Interestingly, these caterpillars are considered the best natural catfish bait and the Southern catalpa tree is commonly called the fish bait tree.
I didn’t save a screenshot of my original observation but when I re-submitted my caterpillar photo, Seek reminded me of the first match.
These experiences have made me a big Seek fan! But it’s only fair to call out a few limitations. Seek only identifies wildlife; it doesn’t identify cultivated plants and animals. So you can’t use Seek to identify that gorgeous new iris that just bloomed in your flower garden as I tried to do with the below photo. I found out from other sources this beauty is a tall bearded iris called ‘Autumn Tryst’.
Another thing to be aware of is that you need a good quality photo of your subject. Understandably, Seek isn’t interested in the pretty shadows created by this curly grass.
Seek needs a clear photo for identification purposes and offers the below tips. Based on the reference photos, I think the Sand Sedge (Carex pumila) gets credit for those curvy shadows.
Why not give Seek a try? I’d love to hear about your experiences. Seek is a global solution with species from around the world so I’m especially interested in hearing from readers outside the USA. Were you able to find local plants and animals?
More Info
You can learn more about iNaturalist and their Seek app at www.iNaturalist.org.
Today’s Takeaways
- iNaturalist.org and their Seek app are great resources for identifying wild plants and animals.
- By using these tools you can help create “citizen science data for science and conservation”.
- Knowing the correct name of a plant or animal makes research easier and can help you be better informed.
Comments are closed.