birds are the canaries in the coal-mine of life. amirite? My wife takes all our bird pictures and posts them on iNaturalist and eBird, but sometimes I obtain a copy of a nice shot and will post it here. We’ve been birding since about 1985 - off and on; not that we go to the ends of the Earth just to add a life-lister, but if we’re AT the end of the Earth, then we’ll look around a little while we’re there.
Three cheers for a birding community! Over the last few years I managed to get my parents in on the activity, so whenever they send me a photo or a report of something interesting in the yard, it’s like having eyes in another state.
I have this experience from following an active user of iNaturalist who roams southwest Virginia, where I lived for a few years long ago. I feel I know that area better now than I did back then, from seeing it through an iNaturalist lens