iNaturalist

Eastern click beetle

Have you run across iNaturalist? 

It's a free app that lets you upload photos of living things with a function that helps you identify whatever it is. 

Fowler's toad

It then connects to a community of experts that verify or correct the identification. 

They do birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, plants, and insects very well, and fungi, crustaceans, and protists, well, better than I could. 

This may have more to do with my photography and the relative lack of experts, of course!

Blue eyed grass

Eastern towhee

Common crayfish

For someone like me who is always wondering "What is that thing?", it's brilliant!

Did I mention you can also look at what other people are identifying around the world?!