Bitter-cresses, Beggarticks, and the Great Eggfly

They're all here in Buffalo! I know them because of Seek, my free nature app

What’s that tree growing in the Aldi parking lot? Answer below. Photo by the Author.

Some of the best apps in life are free! And the Seek app is one of them.

This is a nature app made for kids, as I understand it. However it is just as good for grown-ups. It lets you identify plants, animals, bugs, and mushrooms.

The Seek app is put out by iNaturalist. I have the iNaturalist app as well, however for whatever reason I have not gotten into the habit of using it. The Seek app is just so easy. It is so much fun! And it adds an extra dimension to your day.

Just this morning it identified a weed taking over my front yard as Smooth Meadow-Grass. Yesterday I pointed Seek at a plant growing near Checkers on Elmwood and it told me it was Whorled Coreopsis. Across the street, walking in Delaware Park, I saw some white/lavender flowers I had not noticed. They had the most beautiful name: Virginia Springbeauty.

I love the names of plants!

Here is just a small sampling: White Cuckoo Bittercress. Yellow Trout Lily. (That was a small wildflower growing in Delaware Park.) Broadleaf water-milfoil. Halberd-Leaf Rosemallow.

Allegheny Monkeyflowers. Saltmarsh Mallow. Hoary Vervain.

It just gets better. Rough Horsetail. Nodding Beggarticks. Hairy White Oldfield Aster.

All I can imagine is that these names were given to these plants in England deep in the Dark Ages!

Things like this can make your life richer. I was in the parking lot at Aldi and saw a tree planted for landscaping purposes. It had a lovely name: Callery Pear.

You can search your sightings. I looked for “Pear” and found that I first observed Callery Pear on May 2, 2023.

Then I went to Google Photos and sure enough — there it was!

A tree grows at Aldi: Callery Pear. Natural Observation by the Author.

When you identify a plant, Seek tells you if it is Native or Introduced. It knows where you are and it tells you how many are reported in the region.

Also, it gives you the Latin name as well as the common name. Nodding Beggarticks, for instance, is Bidens cernua.Halberd-Leaf Rosemallow is Hibiscus laevis. Arrowhead, which I spot growing at the wetlands in Forest Lawn, has a beautiful Latin name. It is Sagittaria sagittifolia!

Sagittaria is archery. Like Sagittarius, the Archer.

You can also identify bugs and animals with the app. This makes it not so big of a pain to find a bug in your house. Instead of scrambling to kill the bug, I scramble to get my phone.

Best bug so far: the Great Eggfly (Hypolimnas bolina). I observed it on August 4, 2024.

The Great Eggfly. Photo by the Author.

That was the day my friend Gary got married at the Delaware Park Rose Garden. Could I have been playing with the app as I waited for the ceremony to begin? No … I must have gone for a walk earlier that day at Tifft Nature Preserve.

Because look, I also took this video of a deer.

I remember Seek failed to identify the animal, telling me only that it was in the class of Mammalia. Sometimes it gets flummoxed.

Its flaws bother me much less than they did at first. This is one good app! It can add entertainment to any day. And it’s free!

And you can become learned, should you so choose.

One drawback: If anything happens to my phone, I might have to start all over with my observations. I do not think I ever formally signed up.

Well, you know what?

That would be fun!

More About Nature

Mary Kunz Goldman is known in Buffalo for her long career with The Buffalo News, writing about classical music and authoring the long-running Buzz column as well as a popular series titled “100 Things Every Western New Yorker Should Do At Least Once.”

Her new independent feature “We’re Going In” celebrates curious adventures around town. Previous “We’re Going In” columns have featured a Goodwill madhouse known as “the bins”; a memorable Met opera simulcast; and a journey through the Junior League’s 2025 Decorators Show House.

Thanks to all who subscribe! To get a look at Mary’s complete online publication, click on MaryKunzGoldman.Substack.com.