The CWF Great Canadian Bioblitz

The CWF Great Canadian Bioblitz returns to provide nature enthusiasts with a fun and easy way to connect with nature — and take inventory of Canada’s wildlife species.

Your goal for participation — to record as many different species as possible of flora, funga and fauna you can find over the course of a weeklong open invitation event. Gather friends, family, nature lovers, students or photography buffs and carve off a few hours to explore the outdoors in your area, (be it your backyard, city parks, or local wilderness area).

Wherever you are in Canada, snap photos or capture sound recordings of everything you find — from iconic wildlife to tiny insects, from birds, bugs and bees to wild plants and trees. Every species counts, from the common to the rare, but extra kudos to people who venture to a new area or hone in on a more unique and harder to find species.

Upload every observation using the free iNaturalist app or online at iNaturalist.ca. You’ll be helping us take a “nature selfie” of Canada. You will also be contributing to an active database scientists use to track and conserve biodiversity across Canada and around the world.

And you’ll be eligible to win prizes by participating! Explore nature while discovering the natural world around you. Take part in the 2025 CWF GREAT CANADIAN BIOBLITZ!

September 21 – 28
📷 Record your observations using iNaturalist
September 29 – October 5
⬆️ Upload and Identify observation made during the recording period.

Your goal for participation – to record as many different species of flora, funga and fauna you can find over the course of a week spent exploring outdoors (be it your backyard, city street, local park, or national park).

Biodiversity is being lost at an alarming rate across the country and around the world, but we can’t protect something if we don’t know it’s there. Documenting biodiversity during the CWF Great Canadian Bioblitz has benefits for both you and for nature. For example:

• You directly help the species you observe, since observations are shared for conservation work, including research, species assessments and protected areas planning.
• It’s a great opportunity to discover more about the natural world around you and all the flora, funga and fauna species that hide in plain sight
• It’s a fun, free, family-friendly event. Challenge friends, family, coworkers or classmates to see who can find the most species
• You become the scientist as you contribute to the scientific study of biodiversity across Canada.
• You’ll be part of a national wildlife conservation event that has a positive and meaningful impact on Canada’s wildlife
• You might discover a rare or invasive species that could have a big impact on local conservation initiatives

Up your game and help fill key data gaps — see if you can record species that are observationally-challenged. Check out iNaturalist Canada’s priority species project or a list of the priority species.

This event is perfect for outdoor classroom learning and nature-based education initiatives. Whether it be a kindergarten classroom or a university program participating in the CWF Great Canadian Bioblitz is a golden opportunity to explore nature and learn more about the iconic species that define Canada’s biodiversity. There are many ways to get involved:

• Engage students with bonus marks for taking part
• Create a classroom or school-wide challenge to see who can make the most observations
• All ages can learn about biodiversity and the interesting species found nearby by exploring the map of observations
• Inspire all participants to develop an interest in classifying species — whether learning the difference between a mammal and bird or the nuanced difference between a Two-spotted vs Half-black bumble bee
• Track biodiversity on campus by undertaking your own species inventory within the Great Canadian Bioblitz (check to see if your campus is part of the CBN Campus Nature Challenge)
• Teach advanced students about study design, survey methods and statistical analysis of the collected data.

Taking part in the CWF Great Canadian Bioblitz is a win for biodiversity. Our contest is a chance to earn a win of your own! By participating you’ll not only be contributing to our bioblitz, you’ll also be eligible for some great prizes.

It’s easy to qualify: everyone who tracks at least 50 different species through iNaturalist.ca is instantly eligible to win the following amazing prize package: the ultimate Bioblitz Backpack, including a pair of Vortex Triumph binoculars, Insect net, iNaturalist ball cap, field guide/s, macro lens, hiking head lamp, first Aid kit — all in a CWF backpack. Rules & Regs >

• Take a look at the resources CWF has made available to you in the Great Canadian Bioblitz Participation Guide. It contains downloadable information, video tutorials and more tips on how to make the very best nature observations possible. By Remember, since you already joined the Great Canadian Bioblitz project on iNaturalist, all the observations you make will be automatically added to the project. If you’re not familiar with adding iNaturalist observations, check out our video tutorials for using the app or adding observations online .
  
  
• After a week of observations comes the opportunity to finish uploading and identify. You’ll have until October 5th to get the last of your observations uploaded from the week before and help identify everything that you and others have found. Every ID helps, even if just triaging to groups like “reptiles” or identifying every Blue Jay observed.