iNaturalist Observations Scraper

iNaturalist Observations Scraper

Scrape iNaturalist observations by taxon, place, or date, up to a million per run. Each observation comes with its species, location, quality grade, and photos. No login or API key. Export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.

iNaturalist's official API needs an app registration, OAuth, and rate-limits you. This reads the public observation feeds directly, filtered by taxon name, quality grade, place ID, or date range, and returns each match in one fixed schema.

Who uses it	What they scrape iNaturalist for
Ecologists	Monitoring species distribution and abundance over time
Data scientists	Building machine learning datasets for species identification
Conservation NGOs	Tracking endangered species sightings for reports
Educators	Gathering real-world biodiversity data for classroom projects

What it does

This Actor collects iNaturalist wildlife observations by taxon, place, or date, and returns each one as a flat row.

• 🔍 Taxon filter: search by common or scientific name, like whale, butterfly, or eagle.
• 📍 Place filter: restrict to a country, state, or park using iNaturalist place IDs.
• 📅 Date range: collect observations from a specific period with start and end dates.
• 🏆 Quality grade: choose Research Grade, Needs ID, or Casual observations.
• 📸 Photos only: optionally return only observations that include photos.
• 🔢 Sort order: order results by creation date, observation date, or votes.

Results export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML, or straight from the API.

What you can do with iNaturalist data

📊 Monitor species trends.

An ecologist runs the scraper weekly for a taxon and place to track observation counts and detect population changes.

🤖 Build ML training data.

A data scientist collects thousands of photo observations for a species to train an image classification model.

🗺️ Map biodiversity hotspots.

A GIS analyst pulls observations for a region and imports coordinates into mapping software to visualize species distribution.

📚 Support conservation reports.

An NGO gathers Research Grade observations of endangered species to cite in grant proposals and impact reports.

Why choose this scraper

	What you get
No API key	Scrape public iNaturalist data without registering an app or dealing with OAuth.
Up to 1M rows	Collect large observation datasets in a single run for research or ML training.
Fixed schema	Every observation returns the same flat structure, ready for analysis or export.
Flexible filters	Combine taxon, place, date, quality grade, and photo filters to narrow results.

How it compares

This actor focuses on core observation filters and returns a clean flat schema, while competitors may offer additional filters like project or bounding box, or different pricing models.

Feature	ParseForge	iNaturalist Observations Scraper	iNaturalist Observations Scraper - Biodiversity Data	iNaturalist Observations Scraper - Species, Photos & GPS
Filter by taxon name	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Filter by place ID	Yes	Yes	Not listed	Not listed
Filter by date range	Yes	Yes	Yes	Not listed
Filter by quality grade	Yes	Not listed	Yes	Not listed
Filter by project	Not listed	Yes	Not listed	Not listed
Filter by bounding box or radius	Not listed	Yes	Not listed	Not listed
Observer metadata	Not listed	Not listed	Yes	Not listed

Configure the run

Drive the Actor from taxon names, place IDs, and date ranges, alone or together, and filters run as each observation is read so only matches reach your dataset. The Input tab lists every parameter.

A first run with the defaults:

{
  "maxItems": 10,
  "taxonName": "whale",
  "qualityGrade": "research"
}

A larger pull:

{
  "maxItems": 200,
  "taxonName": "whale",
  "qualityGrade": "research"
}

Pricing

Pay-per-result: $0.0085 per result collected. You pay only for the results written to your dataset.

Results collected	Approximate cost
100 results	$0.85
1,000 results	$8.50
10,000 results	$85.00

New Apify accounts start with $5 in free credit.

Free users

Free-plan runs return up to 10 results as a preview. Upgrade your Apify plan to collect up to 1,000,000 results per run.

Run it

1. Create a free Apify account with $5 in credit.
2. Open the iNaturalist Observations Scraper.
3. Set your inputs and any filters, then click Start.
4. Export the results as CSV, Excel, JSON, or XML from the Dataset tab.

Run it programmatically through the Apify API (run-sync-get-dataset-items) or the ApifyClient for JavaScript and Python.

Use with AI agents (MCP)

Give an AI agent live access to iNaturalist through the Model Context Protocol. Add the Actor to Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client:

claude mcp add --transport http apify "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=parseforge/inaturalist-scraper"

Then prompt it in plain language to run the scraper and read back the results.

Troubleshooting

Why am I getting no results?

Check your filters. The taxon name may be misspelled, the place ID may be invalid, or the date range may have no observations. Try broadening your filters or removing some of them.

Why are my results limited to fewer observations than I requested?

iNaturalist may not have enough observations matching your filters. Try removing some filters or expanding the date range.

How do I find the correct place ID?

Go to iNaturalist.org, search for the place you want, and look at the URL. The number after /places/ is the place ID. For example, /places/1 is the United States.

Why are some observations missing photos even though I selected 'Has Photos'?

The 'Has Photos' filter only includes observations that have at least one photo. If an observation has no photos, it will be excluded. If you still see missing photos, check if the photo URL is accessible.

Can I filter by a specific species?

Yes, enter the common or scientific name in the 'Taxon Name' field. For example, 'Monarch Butterfly' or 'Danaus plexippus'.

FAQ

Question	Answer
Do I need an iNaturalist API key?	No. This scraper reads public observation data directly, so no registration or authentication is required.
What filters can I apply?	You can filter by taxon name, quality grade, place ID, start and end dates, and whether the observation has photos. You can also sort by creation date, observation date, or votes.
How many observations can I get in one run?	You can set the maximum number of observations up to 1,000,000 per run. The scraper will stop once it reaches that limit.
What is a quality grade?	iNaturalist assigns each observation a quality grade: Research Grade (community-verified), Needs ID (awaiting identification), or Casual (does not meet criteria for the other grades). You can filter by any of these.
Can I filter by location?	Yes, you can provide an iNaturalist place ID, such as 1 for the United States or 6 for Australia. You can find place IDs on the iNaturalist website.
What date format should I use?	Use YYYY-MM-DD format for both start and end dates, for example 2024-01-01.
Can I get only observations with photos?	Yes, set the 'Has Photos' option to true to return only observations that include at least one photo.
What export formats are supported?	You can export the results as CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML directly from the Apify platform.
Is this scraper legal?	This scraper only accesses publicly available data on iNaturalist. You should review iNaturalist's terms of service and respect their usage guidelines for your specific use case.
Can I schedule this scraper to run automatically?	Yes, you can set up a schedule in Apify to run the scraper at regular intervals, such as daily or weekly.

Related actors

Browse the full ParseForge collection for more scrapers.

🆘 Need help? Email parseforge@protonmail.com with your run ID, your input, and what you expected.

⚠️ Disclaimer. This Actor is unofficial and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by iNaturalist, LLC. It collects only publicly available data. You are responsible for using the collected data in compliance with the source's terms of service and applicable data-protection laws, including GDPR, CCPA, and PIPL. Do not use it to collect personal data unlawfully.