I keep a database of all of my digital photos, and one of the fields in that database is the iNaturalist photo ID. The only way I can match up my files to iNat’s IDs is via the timestamp of the original file that I uploaded. Unfortunately, the API does not provide a way to retrieve details about pho…

I have no solution. But look at https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/cant-access-photo-pages-from-bplant-server-403-forbidden/77168 . Looks similar for me.

It’s similar but not identical, because he’s getting a 403 Forbidden error. I’m not getting 403, I’m getting a JavaScript/cookies challenge. His problem might have started at the same time though.

The “Just a moment…” browser challenge (CloudFlare protection) is a 403 error page; depending on the piece of software making the request, you may get to view a page (full of Javascript indeed) or just the corresponding “403” code. Example: $wget -O- "https://www.inaturalist.org/photos/598865021" …

[image] adamschneider: give us a way to fetch photo information via the API it is possible to get the original filename using an authorized request to GET /observations. see https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/api-return-original-filename-when-fetching-photos-or-sounds/69322/6 . also note that ge…

[image] pisum: it is possible to get the original filename using an authorized request to GET /observations. see https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/api-return-original-filename-when-fetching-photos-or-sounds/69322/6 . The original filename, yes, but not any of the other metadata that’s available…

well, there is an existing request for a GET /photos endpoint: https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/photo-detail-endpoint-for-api/40481 . you can add your support for it there if you haven’t already. or since you have some coding aptitude, you could do what the other person in the thread i referenced earl…

[image] adamschneider: The original filename, yes, but not any of the other metadata that’s available to authorized users on the /photos/12345 page. Since you have access to your digital photos, can’t you get the photo metadata yourself, and then merge the metadata with the iNaturalist observ…

I have enough “coding aptitude” to fetch information from the API, but I don’t know the first thing about programming the API itself. I added a comment to that thread.

[image] wy_bio: Since you have access to your digital photos, can’t you get the photo metadata yourself, and then merge the metadata with the iNaturalist observation data? I have the metadata, yes, but I need to know which observation is associated with which photo. So I need iNat’s record o…

[image] adamschneider: I need to know which observation is associated with which photo. So I need iNat’s record of the timestamp. without knowing your exact process, i would think that that matching could be done on file name, too, or worst case, observation day + file name.

Cannot fetch photo pages programmatically, even with "Authorization" header

Bug Reports

pisum March 31, 2026, 5:46pm 11

without knowing your exact process, i would think that that matching could be done on file name, too, or worst case, observation day + file name.

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Cannot fetch photo pages programmatically, even with "Authorization" header

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