Nature Identification on the Web

Since my eyes have gone bad, I am using the computer/internet more and books/newspapers less because with the electronic medium I get to control the font size, the picture size, ... With any printed media or handheld devices the font is just too small to make out without magnification. On the computer, the screen can be big and the font can be made to fill the screen. For me it is the way to go.

Even when using a camera, I may not see a scene clearly but all I need to do is shoot a clear picture and then upload it to my computer with the big screen and I can now see it clearly. Take a lot of pictures and sort them out at home. I think that has always been the advice of professional photographers.

One nice feature of this policy is that identification becomes easier. With the photo up on the screen, you can search the internet for a similar photo and compare the 2 side by side. No more clunky identification books, no more page turning searches and the web has more images than any book ever printed.

Here are some identifications made with this method.

House sparrow, I had always thought this was an English Sparrow, but I was wrong.

The Little Egret, with telephoto lens, just hold the camera steady, point and click.

The Malay Night Heron

 Lilly, actually this all the specific I would want to get, the varieties of flowers make that identification world a jungle.

 Sweetgum, I had thought this was a sycamore but the internet proved me wrong again.

One problem with this method is that the picture has to have enough detail that on the web you can find a similar image. I struck out with this one.(but it is a nice photo)

On a hike through JinMei Park we came across this flower.

 I believe it is Datura Metel because I can find the same image if I google "datura+metel+taiwan". Datura is the same family as Jimson Weed and Locoweed and sure enough this Datura metel has alkaloids. It is also called Angel's Trumpet, Devil's Trumpet or just plain metel. Not only is flower identification a jungle because of the varieties but also because the same plant might have many names.

 In Chinese, the datura flower is called 洋金花 (yángjīnhuā). The plant is called 曼陀羅 (màntuóluó). It is sometimes used in Chinese herbal medicine. The leaves are dried and burnt with the patient inhaling the smoke.