My iNaturalist Year 2025

iNaturalist Year 2025 – iNaturalist is a citizen science platform where observations of plants, animals, and fungi are shared. People from very different backgrounds come together here, united by a shared passion for nature. Together, they pursue the goal of exploring, better understanding, and protecting global biodiversity in the long term. In this blog post, I summarize my iNaturalist Year 2025.

My iNaturalist Year 2025

Anyone who reads my blog regularly has probably noticed that I often rave about iNaturalist. It’s a citizen science platform where nature enthusiasts—or citizen scientists—can share their observations of plants, animals, and fungi. The data collected there is invaluable for understanding and tracking species distributions.

I personally enjoy using iNaturalist a lot because it helps me identify my observations and learn more about nature. Since I’m so enthusiastic about the platform, I’ve decided to summarize my personal iNaturalist Year 2025 here on the blog every year.

How many nature observations did I make? Where did I go? Did I encounter any rare species—or species that might not be so rare, but that I saw for the first time?

This blog post is dedicated to exactly these questions.

In my iNaturalist year 2025, I shared around 600 observations. About 90% of these were identified with the help of other users on the platform. For the remaining roughly 10%, a precise identification is still pending (as of December 28, 2025).

The majority of my observations were of birds: over 80% of all entries belonged to this group. Mammals made up only a small portion, just over 4%. Reptiles accounted for less than 1%, and observations of fish were even fewer. This means I recorded observations from all vertebrate classes—except amphibians.

Insects represented less than 2% of my total observations. In addition, there were two observations classified as “Other Animals”.

In addition to animal observations, I also documented plants on iNaturalist. Most of my observations were made in October 2025, following my two-week trip through Spain and Portugal.

A particularly interesting chart shows the newly added species. For me, December stands out in particular. However, some caution is needed: most of these observations were actually made in October but I uploaded them only in December. What is certain, though, is that many of the species I observed during my trip through Spain and Portugal were true first-time sightings for me. This includes, for example, the spotless starling, of which I was able to make a particularly large number of observations. Equally impressive for me were the black stork and the hoopoe. In addition, there were numerous other remarkable encounters—such as with pilot whales or barbary macaques, as well as the many greater flamingos, which will remain memorable to me for a long time.

In the summer, I encountered a woodlark for the first time in the Döberitzer Heide. Even though I didn’t manage to get a perfect photo, I was still able to share the observation on iNaturalist. During this time, another first-time observation for me was a mourning cloak butterfly, which I also discovered in the summer.

A very special highlight for me this year was the trip to see the sand martins. It was the first time I had the chance to observe these fascinating birds, so they naturally had to appear in the chart of newly added species.

Earlier in the spring, I was in Sardinia, where I also made several first-time observations. These included, among others, an Italian wall lizard and numerous by-the-wind sailors that had washed up on the beach.

Overall, I was able to significantly increase my observations compared to the previous year—a great motivation for the upcoming iNaturalist year.

The chart clearly shows that compared to the previous year, I recorded more first-time observations and documented a greater number of species overall. In addition, I shared significantly more observations on iNaturalist than before.

But what did things look like on a global scale—what observations were made by all iNaturalist users worldwide?

As the chart shows, over 60 million observations were uploaded to iNaturalist, and more than 340,000 species were identified. Nevertheless, about 43% of the total 60+ million observations remain unidentified.

Interestingly, of the identified species, around 40% are plants. About 28% are insects, while birds make up just under 13%.

These results make a lot of sense to me, as support from others is especially valuable for plants, insects, and many other species. A second or third opinion can often be crucial.

I also find the last pie chart particularly interesting: the majority of users—around 87%—only share observations. About 10% combine sharing observations with actively helping to identify species. A smaller portion, less than 2%, contributes exclusively by helping with identifications without uploading any observations themselves.

Interestingly, the highest number of observations were shared in May—not surprising, since the City Nature Challenge takes place every year during this month.

I found it particularly fascinating that over 1,800 new species were shared on iNaturalist in December. In other months as well, the number of new species exceeded 1,000. The question, however, is: did many people simply have more time in December to upload their observations to iNaturalist (like me), or were the new observations actually made in December?

This year, fewer new first-time sightings were shared on iNaturalist, but there were an above-average number of observations, and overall more species were identified than in the previous year.

My personal conclusion for my iNaturalist year 2025: I participated actively this year and made significant progress compared to the previous year. I was more diligent and was able to share more observations. I still need to be a bit more active in identifying species, though I prefer to focus on the species I know well—ideally the ones in my familiar surroundings. This way, I can continue to improve my own species knowledge. The great thing about iNaturalist is that multiple users can verify an identification. Even if you make a mistake, there are other eyes to catch it. Still, I approach certain species cautiously to avoid spreading misinformation.

If you want to learn more about my observations, you can find my profile here:

10 special observations

Even though blackbirds are quite common in Berlin and I encounter them regularly, one sighting was particularly extraordinary: a blackbird with black-and-white speckled plumage. The white feathers are the result of leucism—a genetic mutation in which the pigment cells in the skin and feathers are missing. I spotted this special blackbird in the Berlin Tiergarten.

Leucism doesn’t seem to occur only in blackbirds. I also came across a white female Mandarin duck in a pond in Volkspark Friedrichshain in Berlin.

In Volkspark Friedrichshain, I also encountered a group of goldcrests for the first time this year. This experience was particularly beautiful and unique for me, as I rarely come across these tiny birds. However, it’s worth mentioning that it wasn’t the first time I had shared a goldcrest on iNaturalist—see my post from Nice for reference.

In April, I visited the beautiful island of Sardinia, specifically near Alghero. I have already written about this. There, I encountered numerous Italian wall lizards. I relied on the support of iNaturalist users to identify the species. Thanks to their feedback, I was able to identify the following wall lizard as an Italian wall lizard.

I had a truly special encounter with the sand martins on the island of Poel. Finding the birds wasn’t easy, but eventually I spotted them—and every minute of observing them was a delight. Without a doubt, the sand martins rank among my ten most memorable observations of my iNaturalist Year 2025.

Overall, the summer was fairly quiet, and I made only a few observations. Nevertheless, there was a particularly lovely encounter in June: a great reed warbler, which I observed in the Britzer Garten in Berlin. Although June was already quite late in the year, a few great reed warblers and also some Eurasian reed warblers could still be spotted. This was special for me, as these birds are generally difficult to observe.

Another lovely summer observation was encountering a European hare in the Döberitzer Heide. This place is simply wonderful for exciting wildlife sightings—I just don’t go there often enough. One day, a hare suddenly appeared. Fortunately, I had my camera ready and was able to take a photo of this impressive animal.

In October, my trip took me for two weeks to Spain and Portugal—far too short for such a beautiful region. Nevertheless, I was able to experience quite a lot in that short time. An absolute highlight was definitely the pilot whales. Years earlier, I had already seen pilot whales off Tenerife—it was the first time I had ever seen dolphins. I was all the more thrilled to encounter pilot whales again after all those years.

Another special encounter was with the barbary macaques in Gibraltar. Only here in Europe does a wild population of barbary macaques exist. Although the day was quite hot and challenging, I was still able to enjoy some wonderful moments with the macaques.

I find it very difficult to choose my absolute most special observations. I encountered countless whinchats and many spotless starlings. But if I have to choose among the birds, it is the numerous greater flamingos that stand out. This may seem a bit unfair to the other remarkable encounters, but what made the flamingos so extraordinary for me was their impressive number. That’s why I ultimately chose them.

In Portugal, I unexpectedly encountered hoopoes several times. These encounters were special for me, as I had tried multiple times in the Döberitzer Heide to observe hoopoes without success. All the more joyful was the moment of finally spotting these fascinating birds near Lisbon.

It was far from easy to choose just ten encounters—otherwise, this blog post would probably never end. Before I wrap up, one final note: every year in April/May, the City Nature Challenge takes place. Anyone who wants to participate can join via iNaturalist. The City Nature Challenge is a global competition between cities, where the goal is to document as many species as possible.

More informationen

Do you know iNaturalist and regularly share your nature observations? If so, tell us more about your iNaturalist year 2025!