How to use iNaturalist Search URLs

Modified on Tue, 24 Feb at 8:34 AM

(This page is based on work by members of the iNaturalist Forum, who created a wiki for this functionality. Thank you so much!)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Basic Information
List of Search Params

Basic Information

How Search URLs and Params Work

Please read this introduction to the Explore page or make sure you're familiar with the basics of the Explore page before going any further. And as these URL edits are available for the Identify page as well, you may way want to familiarize yourself with that page.

The Explore page and Identify page have multiple filters available in the user interface you can use. Each time a filter is applied, you'll notice the search URL (AKA web address) changes. For example, a search for all plant observations...

...creates this URL: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=any&taxon_id=47126

The part of the URL after the question mark is basically a set of search instructions for iNaturalist and it will always show all verifiable plant observations worldwide if you paste it into a browser (try it!).

In order to keep the user interface from containing an overwhelming number of search parameters, known as params, editing the URL is the only way to access some of these filters. What follows are examples of different URLs you can use to create more complicated searches than are available through the user interface. And remember, once you have a search you like, you can always bookmark the URL to save the search.

Searching with one Param

We’ll start off with something simple.

You’ll notice the last part of the URL above says taxon_id=41726. That number is iNaturalist’s ID for the taxon Plantae. You can always find that number by going to the taxon’s page and looking at the URL (e.g. https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/47126-Plantae for Plantae) or searching for it on Explore and looking at the URL.

So if you want to search for more than one taxon at a time, you can edit that URL to include multiple taxon IDs. Let’s say you wanted to search for all plants and all mammals (https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/40151-Mammalia). You will have to change taxon_id to taxon_ids and then add another taxon number to it by using a comma, so you would end up with:

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=any&taxon_ids=47126,40151

You can append more taxon IDs to this URL to search for more taxa. For example, here are all plants, mammals, and birds:

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=any&taxon_ids=47126,40151,3

Searching with Multiple Params

OK, so that was searching with one param: taxon_id. What if you want to include another param to your search, such as excluding a taxon?

To do that you will need to add another param to the URL, and you do that by using the ampersand character: &.

The param to exclude a taxon is without_taxon_id, and you can add that to your URL with an ampersand:

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=any&taxon_ids=47126,40151,3&without_taxon_id=

Then, just add the IDs of taxa you want to exclude from your search. For example, all plants, mammals, and birds, but without rodents:

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=any&taxon_ids=47126,40151,3&without_taxon_id=43698

You can continue building a search URL from there. Below is a list of search params you can use when constructing search URLs.

How to find ID numbers for Places, taxa, users, projects, and lists

ID numbers, such as those for taxa, Places, users, and projects are needed for many of the params you'll be using, as you've seen above. Here are some easy ways to find them:

Place: In Identify use the Place box at top to find and select the desired Place. The &place_id number will be added to the URL in the browser address bar.

Taxon: In Identify use the Species box at top to find and select the desired Taxon. The &taxon_id number will be added to the URL in the browser address bar.

OR, go to the page for that taxon and the number will be part of the URL. For example, the URL for Angiospermae is https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/47125-Angiospermae, so its taxon ID number is 47125.

User: go to the user’s profile page, then add .json to the URL and press enter. ID is first number listed.

Example to find a user's ID number: https://www.inaturalist.org/people/tiwane.json

OR, on the profile page, hover over the Follow or Stop Following button at top, and look for the friend_id number in the link URL.

Project: In Identify go to Filters, then More Filters, enter and select the project in the Project box. The &project_id number will be added to the URL in the browser address bar.

If the project "URL slug" is needed instead of the number, go to the page for that project, or hover over a link to it, and the "slug" follows the last slash (/) in the URL. For example, uv-fluorescent-organisms is the URL slug for https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/uv-fluorescent-organisms

List: go to the page for that list, or hover over a link to it, and the number will be part of the URL.

List of Search Params

Below is a list of search params that can be used on iNaturalist, via the methods described above.

NOTES:

The search methods below are only for Observations in Explore or Identify. Most will work in both contexts, but some may only work in one context or the other. Most can be combined in one search URL.
- Other searches (often less versatile) exist for things like comments, identifications, taxa, flags, taxon changes, etc.
Searches may return fewer results than expected unless you first override certain default filters (quality_grade=needs_id, reviewed=false in Identify; verifiable=true in Explore; default place in either). Any or all these defaults can be overridden using the existing Filters window. To ensure that no default filters are limiting results you can also manually add the following to any search URL:
&quality_grade=any&reviewed=any&verifiable=any&place_id=any
Because these URL parameters are based on the API, further information may be found in the API documentation

WHAT (taxa and identifications)

Search for multiple taxa or exclude taxa

If you want to search for more than one taxon at a time, you can edit a URL to include multiple taxon IDs. Let’s say you wanted to search for all lizards (https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/85552-Sauria) and all crocodilians (https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/26039-Crocodylia). You will have to change taxon_id to taxon_ids and you can add another taxon number to it by using a comma, so you would end up with:

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=any&taxon_ids=85552,26039

You can append more taxon IDs to this URL to search for more taxa. For example, here are all lizards, crocodilians, and nudibranchs (https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/47113-Nudibranchia):

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=any&taxon_ids=85553,26039,47113

You can also exclude taxa by using &without_taxon_id=. For example, all lizards, crocodilians, and nudibranchs, but without geckos (https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/371057-Gekkota):

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=any&taxon_ids=85553,26039,47113&without_taxon_id=371057

Search multiple taxa using a list

You can use Lists to restrict a search to particular taxa. For example, https://www.inaturalist.org/lists/1139967-quickspp is a list that is already set up. Using &list_id=XXXX restricts the search to the taxa in XXXX list, so https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?list_id=1139967 brings back only results from the list linked above.

Search for single taxon by name, synonym, or common name

Use &taxon_name= and omit any rank designations

For a species: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=any&taxon_name=Pinus+contorta
For a subspecies: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=any&taxon_name=Pinus+contorta+murrayana
Above species: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=any&taxon_name=Pinaceae
Common name: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=any&taxon_name=Clark's+Nutcracker
- common names used for multiple taxa will only return the first taxon found, not all of the taxa using the name. For example, https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=any&taxon_name=daisy+fleabane only returns results for Erigeron strigosus, but not for Erigeron bellioides.
Misspelled names, or names not in iNaturalist, will return results for all taxa.
Only a single name can be requested

Search for exact taxon (no descendants)

(works in Identify only)

If you want to search for observations only at an exact taxon, you can use &exact_taxon_id= in Identify mode. This is essentially equivalent to searching for that taxon, but also using the Rank filter for the rank of that taxon, i.e. it will not return observations of descendants. So this returns observations of Aves, but not identified to family, genus, species, etc.: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identify?exact_taxon_id=3

Unlike a Filters search, however, you can show multiple exact taxa by separating them with commas. To see observations identified as Birds or Mammals (but not a descendant thereof) use

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identify?exact_taxon_id=3,40151

If you want to exclude one or more exact taxa, but keep their descendants, you can use &without_direct_taxon_id=. For example, here are all snakes except observations at the exact rank of vipers or pythons:

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identify?taxon_ids=85553&without_direct_taxon_id=30667,67532

Search by active identification(s)

To find observations to which a particular ID has been added (even if that is not the consensus ID), use ident_taxon_id=.

For example, this should show observations which have an active Dysdera crocata ID, a commonly misidentified spider.

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?ident_taxon_id=68912

You can also string together multiple taxa with ident_taxon_id_exclusive=. For example, https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?ident_taxon_id_exclusive=46020,46017 will bring back observations that have identifications of both Sciurus carolinensis and Sciurus niger. And https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?ident_taxon_id_exclusive=46020,46017,46023 will return observations with IDs of S. carolinensis, S. niger, and S. griseus.

Search for observations that have no identifications

Observations of Bacteria, Archaea, Viruses, and Life show up under the Unknown category. To filter just for observation with no ID at all, use &identified=false. e.g. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?identified=false

Search by taxon establishment means or status (introduced, native, threatened)

To limit results to observations where taxa are introduced, native, and/or threatened in their places, add

&native= true|false|any (default is any)

&introduced= true|false|any (default is any; true is available in Filters panel)

&threatened= true|false|any (default is any; true is available in Filters panel)

Keep in mind that not all taxa have establishment means for all places. You can edit or add establishment means.

Notes:

&native=true will not find only &introduced=false, nor vice-versa. Results depend on the Establishment Means set in the appropriate place checklists.
&native=true finds taxa set to native or endemic.
&native=false finds taxa set to unknown or introduced.
&introduced=true finds taxa set to introduced.
&introduced=false finds taxa set to unknown, native, or endemic.
&threatened=true includes taxa that have a conservation status with an IUCN equivalent of NT (Near Threatened) or worse specified, regardless of the taxon geoprivacy setting. See Search by geoprivacy to combine taxon geoprivacy in the search.

Search for disagreeing identifications

To search for observations where at least on active identification is a disagreement, add:

&disagreements= true|false|any (default is any)

WHERE (Places and geography)

Search multiple places

This is pretty similar the multiple taxa URL. Like taxa, Places have their own unique ID number, which you can find by searching for it and looking at the resulting URL. For example, here are all observations in Australia:

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=6744

So Australia's ID number is 6744. If you wanted to search for observations in both Australia and New Zealand, all you have to do is append New Zealand's ID number to the end:

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=6744,6803

To exclude a place from your search, use &not_in_place=. Below is a search for all observations in Australia and New Zealand, but not in the Australian state of New South Wales:

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=6744,6803&not_in_place=6825

Search by bounding box or circle

If you would like to search an area that does not have a Place ID, you can draw a rectangular bounding box or a circle with a defined center and radius. Or you can manually enter or edit the coordinates in the URL. For example, https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?nelat=30.849458&nelng=-94.939413&swlat=30.220087&swlng=-95.792015 finds observations in a rectangular area north of Houston, Texas. You can use Google Maps or other Map apps and sites to find the lat/long points – just click on the map and it will give you the numbers.

You can also manually enter coordinates and a radius (in kilometers) for the circle if you like. For example, https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?lat=38.92&lng=-77.07&radius=16 finds observations in a 16 km circle around Washington, DC. You can use the circle tool of the ruler menu of Google Earth to draw a circle and to find out the center point. If you want to search an area with a radius smaller than 1 km, you can use decimal points. For example, https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?lat=21.651899885055386&lng=-157.97348894028073&radius=0.30 will draw a circle with a radius of 30 meters.

Search by location (positional) accuracy

acc : Boolean to filter on whether or not observations have a positional_accuracy , e.g. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?user_id=tiwane&acc=false

acc_above : Show observations with positional_accuracy above a given value in meters, e.g. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?user_id=tiwane&acc_above=10000

acc_below : Show observations with positional_accuracy below a given value in meters, e.g. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?user_id=tiwane&acc_below=3

Search by geoprivacy

There are two params here: geoprivacy and taxon_geoprivacy.

geoprivacy: the observer has manually chosen the geoprivacy for the observation.

taxon_geoprivacy: iNaturalist has chosen the observation’s geoprivacy due to the taxon’s conservation status.

You can use geoprivacy and taxon_geoprivacy in combination, but the results will be observations with both settings, i.e. it is an AND search, not an OR search.

The four values possible here are open, obscured, private, and obscured_private.

Observations by a single user where geoprivacy is obscured: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?user_id=tiwane&geoprivacy=obscured

Observations by a single user where geoprivacy is obscured or private: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?user_id=tiwane&geoprivacy=obscured_private

Observations where taxon geoprivacy is private: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?taxon_geoprivacy=private

Observations by a single user where taxon geoprivacy is obscured: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?user_id=tiwane&taxon_geoprivacy=obscured

Observations by a single user where taxon geoprivacy is obscured or private: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?user_id=tiwane&taxon_geoprivacy=obscured_private

Observations by a single user where the taxon geoprivacy is open and the geoprivacy is open:

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?user_id=tiwane&geoprivacy=open&taxon_geoprivacy=open

Search for observations with or without georeferenced coordinates

The geo param specifies whether an observation has georeferenced coordinates (a location). Note that observations where either the geoprivacy or taxon_geoprivacy is private (see previous section) are considered to have no georeferenced coordinates. So here are observations that have a public location: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?geo=true&verifiable=any

And here are observations with no location data entered: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?geo=false&geoprivacy=open,obscured&taxon_geoprivacy=open,obscured&verifiable=any

Search for mappable/unmappable observations

The Explore page map only shows observations which are mappable. That is, with public latitude/longitude and a location accuracy less than the diagonal of a rectangle measuring 0.2 degrees by 0.2 degrees. This is about 31 km at the equator, about 27 km at 45 degrees latitude, and about 23 km at 80 degrees latitude. (mappable also requires a few other things, like passing quality checks.)

In Identify, mappable is set to any by default, but can be changed in the URL:

&mappable=true to find obs with public lat/lon and location accuracy below threshold

&mappable=false to find obs with either no public lat/lon or large location accuracy (or failing quality checks)

&mappable=false&geo=true to find obs with large location accuracy (see previous section for details on geo)

WHEN (dates and times)

Search by date with time

Within the Filters menu, there is an option to search by Date Range. The pop-up calendar chooser allows dates to be selected, but times need to be added manually. They can be typed into the Range boxes with the dates, or modified in the URL. Unless you want to search using UTC, you also need to add an offset for the time zone.

Example: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?d1=2020-10-25T10:00-05:00&d2=2020-10-25T11:00-05:00&place_id=1859

This searches a location that is in CDT, using the offset -05:00, which is the offset between CDT and UTC. So results are observations made locally between 10am and 11am on October 25, 2020.

Search by month(s) of year or day(s) of month

To find observation from particular time(s) of year, the following may be helpful:

&month=1,2,12 finds observations in January, February, or December of any year.

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place=any&month=1,2,12

The following are less helpful and/or already covered by existing filters, but are listed for completeness. They can be combined with the &month= search:

&day=21 finds observations on the 21st of any month.

&year=1980,1981,1982 finds obsevations made in those years.

Time Zone is ignored. Results just reflect the recorded date in any time zone.

Search by time of day

To find observations made at a certain time of day, you can use the hour= param followed by the corresponding hour.

for example, &hour=21,22,23,0,1 will find observations with observed_on times of 21h, 22h, 23h, 0h, and 1h (or 9 pm, 10 pm, 11 pm, 12 am, and 1 am if converted to 12 hour clock times).

Please don’t mark observations with the wrong time of day as having an inaccurate date.

WHO (observers and identifiers)

Search multiple observers

To limit a search to a specific set of observers add &user_id= and a comma-separated list of user ids:

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?order_by=random&place_id=any&subview=grid&user_id=tiwane,jdmore

User IDs can be either login names or user numbers, but not a mixture of the two:

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?order_by=random&place_id=any&subview=grid&user_id=28,51061

To exclude one or more observers, you can use &not_user_id=:

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identify?not_user_id=tiwane

Search by identifier(s)

If you only want to see observations to which a certain user has added an ID, use the ident_user_id param. For example, here are all observations to which the user tiwane has added an ID:

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?ident_user_id=tiwane

For observations identified by one or more of several users, separate them with commas:

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?ident_user_id=tiwane,loarie,jdmore

To exclude observations identified by particular user(s), use &without_ident_user_id=, e.g.

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?without_ident_user_id=tiwane,jdmore

Both of these parameters may be used in combination.

The search looks for any active identification by the user(s), whether or not they match the Community Taxon.

Search by annotator(s)

If you only want to see observations to which a certain user has added an annotation, use the annotation_user_id param. For example, these are observations to which tiwane has added an annotation:

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?annotation_user_id=tiwane

For observations annotated by one or more of several users, separate them with commas:

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?annotation_user_id=tiwane,loarie,jdmore

Search by account age (in weeks)

If you want to focus on observations from very new, very old, or in-between user accounts, you can add parameters like the following examples:

&user_after=3w - users with accounts created more recently than 3 weeks ago

&user_before=52w - users with accounts created earlier than 52 weeks ago

&user_before=4w&user_after=8w - accounts created between 4 and 8 weeks ago

The before and after 1w options are already available on the Identify Filters panel.

Search by network affiliation

iNaturalist users may choose to affiliate their account with a network site. To search by these network site affiliations, use:

&site_id=1 for iNaturalist

&site_id=2 for iNaturalist Mexico

&site_id=3 for iNaturalist NZ - Mātaki Taiao

&site_id=5 for iNaturalist Canada

&site_id=6 for Naturalista Colombia

&site_id=8 for Biodiversity4all

&site_id=13 for iNaturalist Panamá

&site_id=14 for iNaturalist Ecuador

&site_id=9 for iNaturalist Australia

&site_id=16 for ArgentiNat

&site_id=15 for iNaturalist Israel

&site_id=20 for iNaturalist Finland

&site_id=18 for iNaturalist Chile

&site_id=23 for iNaturalist Greece

&site_id=26 for iNaturalist Luxembourg

&site_id=25 for iNaturalist United Kingdom

&site_id=17 for Naturalista Costa Rica

&site_id=24 for iNaturalist Guatemala

&site_id=21 for iNaturalist Sweden

&site_id=28 for Naturalista Uruguay

&site_id=27 for 愛自然-臺灣 (iNaturalist Taiwan)

&site_id=22 for Natusfera

Search by multiple user license types

Single license queries are already available from the Filters panels. To query for multiple license types:

&photo_license=cc0,cc-by,cc-by-sa (example for all photo licenses accepted by Wikipedia).

&photo_license=cc0,cc-by,cc-by-nc (example for all photo licenses accepted by GBIF)

&sound_license=cc0,cc-by (example for multiple sound licenses)

&license=cc0,cc-by,cc-by-nc (observations with licenses accepted by GBIF)

Use lower-case license parameters to ensure functionality in Identify.

Observations are licensed separately from the media they contain. The system default is all observations regardless of license.

Other observation properties

Search for observations with or without media (photos, sounds)

photos=true: has 1 or more photos (available in the user interface)

photos=false: does not have photos

sounds=true: has audio (available in the user interface)

sounds=false: does not have audio

Combine for media-less observations, e.g. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identify?quality_grade=casual&sounds=false&photos=false&taxon_id=3

Include both Captive and Wild observations

Some parts of the site will only show Wild observations by default, with an option to show Captive only. To be sure you are seeing both kinds of observations, use: &captive=any&verifiable=any

Besides any, the other options (already in the Filters panels) are true and false.

Search by observation numbers (id numbers)

Each iNaturalist observation has an id number that can be found in the URL for that observation. You can use this number with id= to restrict a search to specific observations.

For example, to restrict an Identify search to

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/51170811 and

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/51170806, use

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?id=51170811,51170806&verifiable=any&place_id=any

To exclude one or more specific observations, use &not_id=:

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identify?not_id=51170811,51170806

(Note that not_id only works in Identify, while id also works in Explore)

Search for Observation Fields and values

You can specify observation fields and their values in the URL using the field param. For example, here are all of the observations with the observation field "Roadkill" set to "Yes".

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?field:roadkill=yes

You can search for all observations with a field regardless of the field value (e.g. the field “Habitat (s Afr)” only): &field:Habitat%20(s%20Afr) Note that the space in that field name needs to be replaced with a %20 in the URL so the browser doesn’t get confused.

or with a field and value (e.g. "Habitat (s Afr)=Nama Karoo"): &field:Habitat%20(s%20Afr)=Nama%20Karoo

You can also find observations missing a specific Observation field using: &without_field=

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?without_field=Roadkill

You can easily combine these with other search strings. For example, the following shows all observations marked as being of insect herbivores of Eucalyptus.

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?taxon_id=47158&field:Interaction->Herbivore%20of=51815

The taxon ID for Insecta is 47158 and for Eucalyptus is 51815 (which you find from the URLs of their taxon pages, https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/47158-Insecta and https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/51815-Eucalyptus). The observation field used here is "Interaction->Herbivore of". Note that the space in that field name needs to be replaced with a %20 in the URL so the browser doesn’t get confused.

To view an Observation Field's page, add XX where XX is the Field's ID number, such as: https://www.inaturalist.org/observation_fields/1234

Observation field view for a value: (e.g. Fynbos in Habitats-s-afr): https://www.inaturalist.org/observation_fields/7498?value=Fynbos (case sensitive)

Ascending list of observation fields: https://www.inaturalist.org/observation_fields?order_by=name&order=asc

Descending list: https://www.inaturalist.org/observation_fields?order_by=name&order=desc

Search for Annotations

Use the param &term_id= for the annotation group

1=Life Stage, 9=Sex, 12=Flowers and Fruits, 36=Leaves, 17=Alive or Dead, 22=Evidence of Presence, 33 Established (currently Reptiles and Amphibians only)

Use the param &term_value_id= for the value within the group

Life Stage: 2=Adult, 3=Teneral, 4=Pupa, 5=Nymph, 6=Larva, 7=Egg, 8=Juvenile, 16=Subimago

Sex: 10=Female, 11=Male, 20 Cannot Be Determined

Flowers and Fruits: 13=Flowers, 14=Fruits or Seeds, 15=Flower Buds, 21=No Flowers or Fruits

Leaves: 37=Breaking Leaf Buds, 38=Green Leaves, 39=Colored Leaves, 40=No Live Leaves

Alive or Dead: 18=Alive, 19=Dead, 20=Cannot Be Determined

Evidence of Presence: 23=Feather, 24=Organism, 25=Scat, 26=Track, 27=Bone, 28=Molt, 29=Gall, 30=Egg, 31= Hair, 32=Leafmine, 35=Construction

Established: 34=Not Established

Both the group parameter and value parameter should be included in the URL. And term_value_id should be able to accept a comma-separated list of more than one value. Examples below.

Here are all verifiable Lepidoptera observations with a Life Stage of Larva: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=any&taxon_id=47157&term_id=1&term_value_id=6

And here are all verifiable Lepidoptera observations with a Life Stage of Larva or Adult: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?page=2&place_id=any&taxon_id=47157&term_id=1&term_value_id=2,6

To exclude observations with particular annotations, use the following similar to the above:

&without_term_id= to exclude observations with any annotation in this group

&term_id=xx&without_term_value_id= to exclude observations with a specific annotation value

&term_id_or_unknown=xx&without_term_value_id to exclude observations with a specific annotation value, or which have no value set for that term

For example, to see observations NOT marked as alive, dead, or undetermined use https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identify?without_term_id=17

For observations that are marked as alive or undetermined but NOT dead, use https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identify?term_id=17&without_term_value_id=19

For observations that are marked as alive or undetermined or null (no value set) but NOT dead, use https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identifyterm_id_or_unknown=17&without_term_value_id=19

For more information about Annotations, see the help article.

Search by Description, Tag, Name, Place

The Explore and Identify filters include a box called Description / Tags. This box actually searches 4 things: description (also called "notes"), tags, names of taxa with active identifications, and locality notes. To search just one of these at a time, you can specify a search term and also which one to search.

Specify the search term with &q=, for example &q=small. Replace spaces with %20, for example &q=very%20small.

To restrict the search to the description, use &search_on=description

To restrict the search to tags, use &search_on=tags

To restrict the search to active ID taxon names, use &search_on=names

To restrict the search to the locality note (also called the the place_guess), use &search_on=place

As an example, https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?q=leaf%20miner&search_on=tags searches for observations with the tag "leaf miner".

Current limitations: This tool cannot search the text within comments or ID remarks.

Search by Data Quality metrics

&fails_dqa_accurate=true to find observations voted not accurately depicting organism or scene

&fails_dqa_date=true to find observations voted date not accurate

&fails_dqa_evidence=true to find observations voted no evidence of organism

&fails_dqa_location=true to find observations voted location not accurate

&fails_dqa_needs_id=true to find observations voted Community Taxon can’t be improved

&fails_dqa_recent=true to find observations voted no recent evidence of organism

&fails_dqa_subject=true to find observations voted not a single subject

&fails_dqa_wild=true to find observations voted not wild

&project_id= is used by the standard filter window, and restricts a search to observations in a selected Project. This is also a good way to look up and copy the Project ID for use with other Project queries.

Use not_in_project= to find observations that are in a place and not in a project, for example, all beetles in New Zealand currently not in the "NZ Beetles and their grubs": project:

place_id=94916 New Zealand Zone

taxon_id=47208 Coleoptera

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=94916&taxon_id=47208&not_in_project=nz-beetles-and-their-grubs

Additional project searches

&apply_project_rules_for= to find observations that meet the project’s rules

&not_matching_project_rules_for= to find observations that don’t meet the project’s rules

&members_of_project= to find only observations by people who have joined the project (versus all observations that qualify for inclusion in the project)

Search for Observations from iOS, Android, or Seek apps

The &oauth_application_id parameter allows searching observations by the source of upload.

&oauth_application_id=2 = iNaturalist Android app

&oauth_application_id=843 = iNaturalist app

&oauth_application_id=3 = iNaturalist iOS app (iNaturalist Classic)

&oauth_application_id=333 = Seek app

Search for observations shared with data partners (e.g. GBIF)

&outlink_source= to search for observations that were shared with an external source, such as GBIF or GloBI.

&outlink_source=Atlas%20of%20Living%20Australia observations shared to Atlas of Living Australia

&outlink_source=Calflora observations shared to Calflora

&outlink_source=EDDMapS observations shared to EDDMaps

&outlink_source=GBIF observations shared to GBIF

&outlink_source=GloBI observations shared to GloBI

&outlink_source=Maryland%20Biodiversity%20Project observations shared to Maryland Biodiversity Project

Search by exclusions (not place, not taxon, not observer etc.)

Many of the above searches can also be excluded from results. These options are collected here again for convenience.

&without_taxon_id= (excludes one or more taxa and their descendants)

&exact_taxon_id= (Identify only; excludes descendants of one or more taxa)

&without_direct_taxon_id= (Identify only; works like without_taxon_id but descendants aren’t excluded)

&not_in_place= (excludes one or more places)

&geo=false without a location (though you may want to also exclude private observations with &geoprivacy=open,obscured&taxon_geoprivacy=open,obscured)

&not_user_id= (excludes one or more observers)

&without_ident_user_id= (not identified by one or more users)

&not_id= (Identify only; excludes a list of specific observations by id number)

&without_term_id= (the annotation group)

&without_term_value_id= (the value within the annotation group)

&without_field= (the name of a field)

&not_in_project= (not included in one or more projects)

&not_matching_project_rules_for= (not matching a project's rules)

For example, you want to identify Asteraceae (47604) from California (14), but not sagebrush or rubber rabbitbrush (genus Artemisia 52855 or species Ericameria nauseosa 57934) and not from the Sierra Nevada (52173) or the White Mountains (129416), not your own (51061), and without the plant phenology annotation "flowering":

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identify?place_id=14&taxon_id=47604&not_in_place=129416,52173&without_taxon_id=52855,57934&not_user_id=51061&term_id=12&without_term_value_id=13

If any of your "with" and "without" parameters conflict, you should expect to get conflicting results! (or none at all).

Note that &without_field= and &without_field_id= are currently not implemented.

Sort by Dates, Faves, or Randomly

The Identify Filters panel already has options built in to sort by Date Added (default), Date Observed, Date Updated (edited), Faves, or Random. Sorting options are Descending (default) or Ascending.

Two of these options are not available in the Explore filters, but can still be added manually: Date Updated and Random. To add these, use

&order_by=updated_at

&order_by=random

Sorting order is specified by

&order=desc or

&order=asc

For example, https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=any&iconic_taxa=Aves&order_by=updated_at&order=asc will show you all bird observations sorted by date last edited, with observations updated most recently displayed last.

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