iNaturalist
Download the free iNaturalist app to starting observing and identifying species in your area. Every observation can contribute to biodiversity science, from the rarest butterfly to the most common backyard weed. iNaturalist shares your findings with scientific data repositories like the Global Biodiversity Information Facility to help scientists find and use your data. All you have to do is observe and upload! Looking for inspiration? Grab your sneakers, snorkel, or tent, and step outside!
Get started with iNaturalist:
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Making Observations
An observation records an encounter with an individual organism at a particular time and location. This includes encounters with signs of organisms like tracks, nests, or things that just died. When you make an observation, you’ll record: who you are, what you saw, when you saw it, where you saw it, and evidence- photo or video. Follow the link below for help with iNat on iPhone and Android.
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Exploring Observations
Visit iNaturlist.org and click the Explore tab to begin exploring global observations. As you zoom and pan around the map, you will see dense concentrations of observations in places like North America and New Zealand. If you zoom in far enough, the gray markers will be replaced with markers with different colors and shapes reflecting the taxonomic category, quality, and geo-privacy of the observation described in the legend.
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Identifying Observations
Wondering how to use the identification page? On iNaturalist, you can weigh in by adding identifications to observations. Each identification helps confirm or improve the community's opinion on the observation. If the identification is precise enough and has community support, an observation can become a Research quality record of that organism at a location and time.