A living map of every bird, plant, insect, and wild thing spotted near you — drawn from real observations by real naturalists, updated every time you tap Scan.
NAM! finds nature observations near wherever you are. Here's all it takes:
The NAM! SCAN NATURE button at the top does everything. Tap it once and the app will ask for your location, then go fetch recent sightings from two wildlife databases simultaneously.
Your phone will ask if NAM! can see your location. Tap Allow — this is how the app knows where to look. Your location is never stored anywhere or shared with anyone.
A small progress panel shows the three data sources loading in real time — your bird target list, iNaturalist observations, and eBird sightings. It usually takes just a few seconds.
A map appears with colored dots for every recent sighting, plus scrollable lists and photo cards below. Everything is tappable and interactive.
Every dot on the map is a real recent observation. The colors tell you what kind it is at a glance.
Your current location. You can drag this dot to change the scan center.
Observation submitted to iNaturalist — could be any wildlife: birds, plants, insects, fungi, mammals, reptiles.
Bird sighting reported to Cornell's eBird — birds only, but with deeper location detail.
A rare or unusual bird for the area. Worth checking out — these always rise to the top of the map.
The exact spot is hidden to protect a sensitive species. The dot is approximate.
A rare bird whose exact location is also hidden — red for notable, dashed border for obscured.
Six small buttons float on the left side of the map. Here's what each one does:
The slider at the top of the app controls how far out NAM! searches — from 1 mile up to 30 miles. Drag it left for a tight local search, right to see what's in a wider area.
Tap the green number chip (like 30 mi) to type an exact distance. Hit Enter to confirm.
The row of chips below the radius bar lets you focus on one type of wildlife — or see everything at once.
Photo — the observation photo from iNaturalist, if one was submitted. Tap it to zoom in. Pinch to zoom further on mobile.
Common name — the familiar name. Tap it to filter the entire map to just that species.
Scientific name — shown in green italic below the common name.
Date — when the sighting was reported.
Location — tap the blue location line to filter to all observations at that specific spot.
iNat / eBird — opens the original observation on the source website so you can see all the details, photos, and comments.
G-MAP — opens Google Maps at the exact sighting coordinates.
LOCATE — zooms the map to this one observation and shows only its marker.
📷 AMY — appears on birds from your personal life list that have a photo saved. Opens your photo of that species.
Just below the map you'll find two summary panels that give you a bird's-eye view of the data.
Every species observed nearby, listed alphabetically with how many times it appears. Tap any species name to instantly filter the map and cards to just that species. Use the 🖼 GALLERY button to browse all observation photos in a photo grid.
Every reporting location ranked by how many observations were made there. Tap a location name to zoom the map to just that spot and see its sightings. Use the SORT button to switch between ranking by count or alphabetically by name.
A 🔒 lock icon next to a location means its coordinates are obscured for that species.
Tap 📖 LIFE in the bottom bar to open your personal life list — every bird species tracked, with seen and unseen status.
Search — type any part of a common name or scientific name to find a species instantly.
Filter — tap ALL, ✅ SEEN, or ○ NEED to focus on just the birds you've seen or still need.
Groups — species are organized by bird family group (Ducks, Warblers, Sparrows, etc.) in alphabetical order.
🐦 eBird button — tapping the green bird button on any row opens that species page on eBird for range maps, photos, and sounds.
📷 Photo button — purple camera icon appears if you have a personal photo saved for that bird. Taps open it.
After a scan, the bottom bar shows a 🎯 TARGETS button with a count of how many birds from your "still need to see" list were spotted nearby recently.
Any bird on your life list that you haven't seen yet is a target. When NAM! finds a recent sighting of one near you, its detail card gets a purple left border to make it stand out.
Tap 🎯 TARGETS in the bottom bar to instantly filter the map and cards to only show those birds. This is your "what can I go find right now?" view.
You don't have to be there to scan there. Great for planning a trip before you leave home.
A search box appears with quick-tap shortcuts for popular spots.
City names, national park names, zip codes, street addresses — all work. If the first search doesn't find it, try adding the state name.
The map swoops to that location and a fresh scan runs automatically.
NAM! automatically saves your last scan to your device. If you lose signal — or intentionally go somewhere without service — the app shows a purple offline banner at the top and switches to that saved data.
All the markers, species lists, and detail cards are still fully usable. Map tiles you've already viewed are also cached and will display without internet.
Your phone's GPS chip works completely without cell service — it talks to satellites, not the internet. So even offline, you can tap 📍 Reset GPS to update your white location dot to wherever you are now on the trail. The map pans to you without disturbing any of the saved sightings or your current zoom level.
After a scan, a navigation bar appears at the bottom of your screen for quick jumping.
🎯 Targets — filters to only your wanted birds (hidden until targets are found nearby).
🔥 Heat — jumps to the Species Heatmap.
📍 Loc — jumps to the Observation Hotspots list.
📋 List — jumps to the Detail Cards.
📖 Life — opens your full Life List.
Tap the 🖼 GALLERY button in the Species Heatmap header to open a photo grid of every observation that has an image.
The gallery respects whatever filter is active — so if you're already filtered to one species or location, the gallery shows only those photos. Tap any photo to jump to that observation's detail card.
On the detail cards, tap a photo to zoom in. On mobile, pinch with two fingers to zoom in further.
In ⚙️ Advanced Configuration → About this location, you'll find a set of links automatically pointed at your current scan location:
☁️ NWS Local Forecast — official National Weather Service forecast for your exact spot.
🌪️ Windy.com — detailed wind and weather radar — great for birding days.
🌿 iNat Observations — opens iNaturalist's website centered on your location.
🪨 Macrostrat Geology — full geological map of the area.
🗺️ The National Map — USGS topographic map viewer.
🚲 OpenStreetMap — detailed street and trail map.
🥾 AllTrails — hiking trails near your location.
📖 Wikipedia Nearby — Wikipedia articles about places near you.
🗺️ Google Maps — opens Google Maps at your scan location.
The white dot on the map is draggable. Pull it to a new spot and NAM! will automatically rescan from there — handy for checking what's at a nearby park without typing an address.
On desktop, right-click anywhere on the map to instantly drop a pin and scan from that point. On mobile, long-press works the same way.
In Advanced Configuration, tap 🌗 THEME to switch between the dark forest theme and a light daytime mode — useful in bright sunlight outdoors.
NAM! shows observations from the last 7 days. So if something was seen at a spot yesterday, it'll show up. Check back after visiting a location — your own sightings submitted to iNaturalist or eBird will appear in future scans.
On iPhone: tap the Share button in Safari → Add to Home Screen. On Android: tap the browser menu → Add to Home Screen. NAM! installs like an app with no App Store required.