GET /observations

inaturalist.org:inaturalist-api

Summary: Search Observations
Operation ID: searchObservations
Auth: unknown
Description

Search for observations of species. Supports filtering by taxon name, location, date, quality grade, and more.

Parameters (27)

captive (boolean, query, optional)

Filter by captive status (true/false)

d1 (string, query, optional)

Start date (YYYY-MM-DD)

d2 (string, query, optional)

End date (YYYY-MM-DD)

geoprivacy (string, query, optional)

Filter by geoprivacy (open, obscured, private)

iconic_taxa (string, query, optional)

Filter by iconic taxon (e.g., Plantae, Insecta)

id_above (integer, query, optional)

Return IDs greater than this value

id_below (integer, query, optional)

Return IDs less than this value

lat (number, query, optional)

Latitude for location-based search

lng (number, query, optional)

Longitude for location-based search

month (integer, query, optional)

Filter by month (1-12)

nelat (number, query, optional)

North-east latitude for bounding box

nelng (number, query, optional)

North-east longitude for bounding box

order (string, query, optional, default: desc)

Sort order (asc/desc)

order_by (string, query, optional, default: created_at)

Sort field (created_at, observed_on, species_guess)

page (integer, query, optional, default: 1)

Page number

per_page (integer, query, optional, default: 30)

Results per page (1-200)

Constraints: {'maximum': 200}

place_id (integer, query, optional)

Filter by place ID

project_id (integer, query, optional)

Filter by project ID

quality_grade (string, query, optional)

Filter by quality grade (research, needs_id, casual)

radius (number, query, optional, default: 10)

Search radius in kilometers (used with lat/lng)

swlat (number, query, optional)

South-west latitude for bounding box

swlng (number, query, optional)

South-west longitude for bounding box

taxon_id (integer, query, optional)

Filter by taxon ID

taxon_name (string, query, optional)

Filter by taxon name (common or scientific)

user_id (integer, query, optional)

Filter by user ID

user_login (string, query, optional)

Filter by username

year (integer, query, optional)

Filter by year

Examples (5)

TitleTypeURLAction
Search for monarch butterfly observations curl https://api.inaturalist.org/v1/observations?q=monarch%20butterfly&iconic_taxa=Insecta&per_page=10&order=desc&order_by=created_at
Find observations near San Francisco curl https://api.inaturalist.org/v1/observations?lat=37.7749&lng=-122.4194&radius=10&per_page=20&verifiable=true
Research-grade bird observations with photos curl https://api.inaturalist.org/v1/observations?iconic_taxa=Aves&quality_grade=research&photos=true&per_page=15&order_by=observed_on
Observation Search probe-gate https://api.inaturalist.org/v1/observations?per_page=30&page=1
Search Observations probe-gate https://api.inaturalist.org/v1/observations?radius=10&order=desc&order_by=created_at&per_page=30&page=1

Probe History

Latency

Status Codes

TimeStatusLatencySize
2026-03-23 10:08:45.214986 200 1312ms 0.5MB
2026-03-23 09:50:49.497759 200 2434ms 0.5MB
2026-03-23 09:35:56.174198 200 1602ms 0.6MB
2026-03-23 09:19:05.795813 200 1059ms
2026-03-22T07:31:48.469808 200 2782ms

Response Changes

WhenOldNew
2026-03-23 09:19:05.795813 e4f9135ccefe b63e5bc1a8bf
2026-03-23 09:35:56.174198 b63e5bc1a8bf 4efbcc9c4ed0
2026-03-23 09:50:49.497759 4efbcc9c4ed0 5854e939c84f
2026-03-23 10:08:45.214986 5854e939c84f 3c844e0f1773