iNaturalist Scraper

Scrape nature observations from iNaturalist, the world's largest citizen science biodiversity platform with 200M+ observations.

What does iNaturalist Scraper do?

This scraper extracts wildlife and nature observation data from iNaturalist's public API. Search for any species, taxon, or organism and get detailed observation records including species identification, GPS coordinates, photos, quality grades, and observer information.

Perfect for:

• Researchers analyzing species distribution and biodiversity data
• Conservation teams tracking endangered species observations
• Educators building datasets for ecology courses
• Data scientists studying wildlife patterns and citizen science trends
• Developers building nature identification or mapping apps

Features

• Search by species name (common or scientific)
• Filter by quality grade (research, needs_id, casual)
• Filter by geographic location using iNaturalist place IDs
• Filter by date range
• Automatic taxon resolution for precise species matching
• Optional full detail scraping with identifications and comments
• Built-in rate limiting to respect API guidelines
• Pagination support for large datasets

Input

Field	Type	Default	Description
searchQueries	string[]	["monarch butterfly"]	Species or taxa to search. Each query runs separately.
maxListings	integer	100	Maximum observations per query (1-10,000)
qualityGrade	enum	research	Filter: research (verified), needs_id, casual, or any
scrapeDetails	boolean	false	Fetch full details with identifications and comments
placeId	integer	-	iNaturalist place ID (e.g. 1=US, 6712=California)
dateFrom	string	-	Start date in YYYY-MM-DD format
dateTo	string	-	End date in YYYY-MM-DD format
proxyConfiguration	object	-	Optional proxy settings

Example Input

{
    "searchQueries": ["monarch butterfly", "red-tailed hawk"],
    "maxListings": 50,
    "qualityGrade": "research",
    "scrapeDetails": false,
    "placeId": 1,
    "dateFrom": "2024-01-01",
    "dateTo": "2024-12-31"
}

Output

Each observation includes:

Field	Description
id	iNaturalist observation ID
speciesGuess	Observer's species guess
scientificName	Scientific (Latin) name
commonName	Common English name
taxonRank	Taxonomic rank (species, genus, family, etc.)
taxonId	iNaturalist taxon ID
iconicTaxonName	Broad category (Aves, Insecta, Plantae, etc.)
observedOn	Date the observation was made
timeObservedAt	Full timestamp if available
latitude	GPS latitude coordinate
longitude	GPS longitude coordinate
placeGuess	Human-readable location description
qualityGrade	Quality: research, needs_id, or casual
numIdentificationAgreements	Number of community ID agreements
numIdentificationDisagreements	Number of community ID disagreements
photos	Array of photo URLs (medium size)
photoCount	Number of photos
observerLogin	Observer's iNaturalist username
observerName	Observer's display name
description	Observer's notes
license	Creative Commons license code
url	Direct link to the observation
searchQuery	The query that found this observation
scrapedAt	ISO timestamp of when data was scraped

With scrapeDetails: true, additional fields:

Field	Description
identifications	Array of all IDs with taxon, user, and category
identificationCount	Number of identifications
comments	Array of comments with user and text
commentCount	Number of comments
annotations	Observation annotations (life stage, sex, etc.)
observationFieldValues	Custom observation field values
faves_count	Number of favorites
captive	Whether the organism was captive/cultivated
positionalAccuracy	GPS accuracy in meters

Example Output

{
    "id": 123456789,
    "speciesGuess": "Monarch",
    "scientificName": "Danaus plexippus",
    "commonName": "Monarch",
    "taxonRank": "species",
    "taxonId": 48662,
    "iconicTaxonName": "Insecta",
    "observedOn": "2024-09-15",
    "latitude": 38.5816,
    "longitude": -121.4944,
    "placeGuess": "Sacramento, CA, US",
    "qualityGrade": "research",
    "numIdentificationAgreements": 3,
    "numIdentificationDisagreements": 0,
    "photos": [
        "https://inaturalist-open-data.s3.amazonaws.com/photos/123/medium.jpg"
    ],
    "photoCount": 1,
    "observerLogin": "naturalist42",
    "observerName": "Jane Smith",
    "url": "https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/123456789",
    "searchQuery": "monarch butterfly",
    "scrapedAt": "2025-01-15T10:30:00.000Z"
}

Quality Grades Explained

• Research Grade: Community-verified observations. At least 2/3 of identifiers agree on species. Most reliable data.
• Needs ID: Observations awaiting community identification. May be correct but unverified.
• Casual: Missing evidence (no photo), location, or date. Or marked as captive/cultivated.

Common Place IDs

Place	ID
United States	1
Canada	6712
Mexico	6793
United Kingdom	6857
Australia	6744
California	14
Texas	18
New York	48
Yellowstone NP	97395
Yosemite NP	97394

Find more place IDs by searching at inaturalist.org/places.

Tips

• Use scientific names for the most precise results (e.g. "Danaus plexippus" instead of "monarch")
• Research grade observations have the highest data quality and are used in scientific research
• The scraper automatically resolves common names to taxon IDs for better accuracy
• Set maxListings conservatively to stay within rate limits on large searches
• Use placeId to focus on specific regions and reduce result volume
• Enable scrapeDetails only when you need identification history -- it doubles API calls

Cost

This scraper uses Pay Per Event pricing. You are charged $0.005 per observation scraped. With scrapeDetails: true, the cost is the same per observation but runs slower due to additional API calls.

Data Source

All data comes from iNaturalist, a joint initiative of the California Academy of Sciences and the National Geographic Society. Data is contributed by citizen scientists worldwide and is available under various Creative Commons licenses.