Both the Macaulay Library (“ML”, which uses media uploaded via eBird ) and iNat are great tools… but they’re actually very different. Here’s how: ML: Uses media provided by eBird You can’t upload directly on the site You need an eBird account to rate media Uses catalog numbers (e.g., ML1234567890) …

for unique numerical ID on iNat, i often refer to observations as Obs [# in URL] (ex. Obs 108522911 ). media also have their own unique numerical ID if you click on the (i) symbol of an image/audio file, ex. Photo 182726519 or Sound 1036499 . moreover, if an observation has been exported in the GBIF d…

[image] NuthatchFanatic: Doesn’t really use catalog numbers To clarify, iNaturalist observations (images or sounds) each have a unique observation number, equivalent to a catalogue number. When there are multiple images within one observation, each has a unique AWS record number. Each soun…

Most citizen science initiatives are different from each other in some fundamental way, and iNat is generally quite different from the rest as the primary aim is/was to encourage people’s connection with nature, with the data collection and science portions being something of an extra benefit. This…

Cars and boats are different but both can get us where we are going. This morning I posted a dragonfly record to both iNat and Odonata Central, the latter being a database devoted to just Odonata. Maybe a redundant effort in some respects but redundancy isn’t all bad. OC allows import of records fr…

This is a bit off-topic, but for those interested and who can access it, the latest (Oct 2026) issue of ARGIA (News Journal of the Dragonfly Society of the Americas) has three articles comparing and contrasting iNat and Odonata Central, the database for New World odonates. Apparently there has been …

Thanks for pointing it out. Will it not become public after a few years? ( Downloading issues from the most recent three years requires membership, while older issues dating back to 1989 are available as free downloads through the DSA Publications Page . [ 1 , 2 ] *

Macaulay Library vs. iNaturalist

General

DitchingIt September 22, 2026, 6:48pm 6

Unlike iNat, the Macaulay Library is now able to archive non-bird videos: https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/upload-videos/5426/46

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Macaulay Library vs. iNaturalist

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