An Interview with silversea_starsong

Last year, in August, I had a chance to hang out with James Bailey (@silversea_starsong), iNat's leader in species observed, when he visited the Bay Area from his home in southern California. I'd met James the previous spring at the Southwest Texas iNat-a-thon, and he was kind enough to spend some time talking with me about iNat (and cicadas). So, over a year later (I'm sorry James!) I finally cut together a little video of our talk. I also made a separate one for our discussion about cicadas here.

I often don't have the patience to stop and take notice of every organism around me, so it was good to be reminded about how much there really is to see out there.

An Interview with @silversea_starsong from iNaturalist on Vimeo.

Posted on November 27, 2020 08:30 PM by tiwane tiwane

Comments

Congratulations to James for doing a great job finding different species!

Posted by milliebasden over 3 years ago

Probably not a smart question but what is silversea_starsong ? And Southampton is in UK ?
hmm.. No Shame...i am afraid i am getting to old for it. but years ago i would agree

Posted by ahospers over 3 years ago

"Silversea starsong" is just an evocative and beautiful screen name. And yes, Southhampton is a town in England.

Posted by susanhewitt over 3 years ago

Congratulations James :-)

Posted by anudibranchmom over 3 years ago

Fantastic!

Posted by dan_johnson over 3 years ago

Nice work, would love to see more interviews with iNat users in the future.

Posted by kemper over 3 years ago

Loved the interview! Nice to have met you in the Sky Islands, James- All those creatures on the dorm building walls at night!

Posted by kayspurlock over 3 years ago

Amazing finds too
Job well done 👍👍

Posted by ck2az over 3 years ago

Quite the inspiration. Thank you, James!

Posted by jmaughn over 3 years ago

Lovely! Thanks for sharing this!

Posted by andreacala over 3 years ago

Super cool!

Posted by biosam over 3 years ago

He does a great job of connecting the species with others.

Posted by shahrzadasa over 3 years ago

Terrific! James is a legend. He's still one of the top New Zealand observers and that's just from a one month holiday here. :-)

Posted by jon_sullivan over 3 years ago

I am so grateful that I got to hang out with James, an amazing iNaturalist, at that 2018 Southwest Texas iNat-a-thon! I look forward to future adventures together.

Posted by gcwarbler over 3 years ago

@silversea_starsong What lenses are you using?

Posted by tonyrebelo over 3 years ago

" No Shame" ... I love that notion ;-D
I can relate a lot to what you say. I love the ecology site of things as well and often get lost in the microworlds of nature out there. But I am also often surprised how comparably seldom some very common species are documented, I guess because it is so easy to overlook them. I am for sure guilty of this as well, looking at my list and seeing extremely common species in the counry I am from somewhere at rank 20+.

Posted by ajott over 3 years ago

i remember when he blew past me in Santa Monica Mountains observations long long ago :)

Posted by charlie over 3 years ago

Awesome! Shows a great view on how iNat can help people discover nature

Posted by safron over 3 years ago

@silversea_starsong will always be absolutely iconic of iNaturalist in my mind.

Posted by gbentall over 3 years ago

Wonderful interview, and a wonderful inspiration for all of us!

Posted by artemis224 over 3 years ago

Fantastic interview! So many of us can identify with the willingness to find ourselves in awkward positions in order to get that shot ("no shame"). Thanks for doing this and for giving us all a chance to get to know @silversea_starsong better.

Posted by pliffgrieff over 3 years ago

That's awesome. Since I was a kid I had wanted to travel the world looking at plants. Now that I'm older, I really haven't done that, but it's still a passion I wish I could pursue. Thanks, @silversea_starsong, for the inspiration!

Posted by chrisbrant47 over 3 years ago

I can't respond to everyone individually at the moment but I appreciate the support! This hobby has been a blessing to me and I'm happy to inspire others. It can be daunting at first, but it's well worth the journey. There was the remark about rusts and psyllids, which are host-specific to certain plants. Sometimes you won't find everything just by casually looking, it can require a proper scavenger hunt, in this case, remembering to check that host plant every time I'm out.

@tonyrebelo I run with a telephoto and a macro. Some people take two separate cameras but I go with one and switch lenses. It can be a bit risky in poor weather for instance, but it generally works well enough for me. My telephoto is 100-400mm, and the macro is 60mm, both Canon lenses.

@ahospers silversea_starsong is a fanciful name that came about from my writing. A lot of my creative passion went into creating fictional worlds and stories, and it was most prominent around the time I had to decide a screen name. In particular this one comes from some of the ocean stories I had written. The "Silversea" serving as a "place between" two different worlds, and "Starsong" a title of dolphins that travelled between them.

Posted by silversea_starsong over 3 years ago

Have your stories been published? Would love to read!

Posted by kayspurlock over 3 years ago

I've been lucky to be out in the field with James a few times -- always a great time. One of the best things is when coming home, I get to see the observations of what James spotted -- usually unique stuff that all of the rest of us missed! :) Not just that, but James always has such high quality photos. Just incredible stuff.

A fond memory of one of the outings: at the southeast Arizona iNat meeting a few years ago, I was driving with James and @treegrow , and we went through a border crossing. We had practiced some American sayings for when the border patrol asked if everyone was a citizen. We ended up going with "Where is the nearest Whataburger at?" Passed through border patrol without an issue. :)

Posted by sambiology over 3 years ago

Sam, you're forgetting all the neat things you also see on those days, that I, (in jest), throw a fuss about not seeing finding and seeing myself :)

Posted by silversea_starsong over 3 years ago

So great and inspiring James - no shame and nothing but respect!

Posted by loarie over 3 years ago

Oh my goodness, I had no idea, James! I thought you were just my personal inaturalist consultant. :) I have always been grateful for your help. Congratulations and take care!

Posted by robinellison over 3 years ago

I have had the privilege of being in the field with James several times, and he is a person like none other. I cannot properly put his abilities and knowledge into words here - you just have to experience it. And if you ever have the opportunity, I encourage you to do so.

James is a walking, talking encyclopedia of the natural world. But what is truly amazing is his deep knowledge across assorted taxonomic Phylums and Orders. The best field biologists generally work with a relatively small group of organisms, and after decades become experts in their area of study. But James can walk a trail and quickly move from snails to lichens, to vascular plants, to birds, to single cell protozoa, to arthropods, to fungi, to mosses, to amphibians and to almost everything in between. And he can identify and discuss them and their distinctions in depth and with incredible accuracy. If that sounds too unbelievable, he can also do this with reasonable precision over diverse geographic areas.

James is a natural science savant, and I mean that with the highest respect.

On top of all this natural history prowess, James is an incredibly nice and gentle person. Glad to call you my friend James!

Posted by ronvanderhoff over 3 years ago

Yeah, i really wish i got to go poke around the santa monica mountains with you! I thought i was a good botanist/ecologist, but i think you blew past me at some point there. Come to vermont some time, when corona virus is gone...

Posted by charlie over 3 years ago

@silversea_starsong you were among the first to help me with IDs when I first arrived on iNat and continue to be a huuuuge inspiration! Thank you for being you!

Posted by ocean_beach_goth over 3 years ago

What a cute interview!!! A truly inspiration!!

Posted by diegoalmendras over 3 years ago

Wonderful interview, James! Enjoyed meeting and iNatting with you in South Texas. You're an inspiration to all of us.

Posted by tadamcochran over 3 years ago

The interviews are fun. Would love to see more of them.

Posted by janetwright over 3 years ago

I second @janetwright that I look forward to more interviews! It was lovely to hear @silversea_starsong articulate what so many of us iNatters feel about the natural world--that while it's fun seeing the numbers of species and observations on our accounts go up, observing all the different macro- and micro-organisms that make up an ecosystem or habitat drives us, and is an utterly absorbing and engaging pursuit!

Posted by chyroptera over 3 years ago

Cool!

Posted by suhandan1 over 3 years ago

Wonderful to see this interview. I hope to see you in the field again!

Posted by kimssight over 3 years ago

A very enjoyable interview! I love that iNaturalist brings together people from all over the world who share the joy of biophilia. We learn so much from each other. Thanks, James, for all your contributions! No shame :)

Posted by weecorbie over 3 years ago

I remember when I unknowingly met James at SWRS in southeast Arizona. I had just cleaned a cabin and found a dragonfly covered in dust, so took a picture. He saw my observation, sought me out and told me what a cool dragonfly it was. Very cool interview James!

Posted by dylapodiformes over 3 years ago

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