How to turn multiple observations into one observation

On iNaturalist, an observation records an encounter with an individual organism at a particular time and location. Each observation can have multiple photos and sounds from this encounter as evidence for an observation.

There are ways to include multiple photos when you create an observation (see tutorial videos for mobile and web), but not everyone knows about them, so sometimes multiple photos of the same organism get turned into individual observations. And members of the community usually ask the observer to combine them into one observation.

There’s currently no way to easily combine these multiple observations into a single observation, so if you're the observer here are directions for a workaround via the iNaturalist website.

1. Make sure you have the photos you need on your computer.
   
   

2. Choose one of the observations in question (generally the one with IDs and comments is best) to be the remaining observation.
   
   

3. Add the extra photos to that observation by clicking this icon below the observation’s photo. We have a short video demonstration here as well.
   
   

   
   

4. Delete extraneous observations, either by using Batch Edit, or by going to each observation’s page and clicking the down arrow next to "Edit".