NatureCounts as a Source for Data

NatureCounts hosts a massive repository of occurrence data on birds and other taxa. As of 2025, NatureCounts hosts over 350 million records in around 1000 distinct datasets. That’s a lot of data, and the repository is constantly growing.

The data in NatureCounts come from three main streams:

Active monitoring projects entering data directly into NatureCounts via the app or web interfaces.
Importing data from external projects and repositories such as eBird, WildTrax and Christmas Bird Counts.
Integrating and archiving historical datasets from completed projects.

This great influx of data makes NatureCounts the most complete source for raw data on birds in Canada, and an increasingly valuable source for data on birds outside of Canada and other taxa. NatureCounts also hosts the State of Canada’s Birds (covered in Module 7), which features a variety of interpreted data such as population trends, population estimates, conservation goals, distribution maps, and phenology charts.

NatureCounts strives to abide by the FAIR principles of data management, and the majority of the data housed in NatureCounts are available for use in research and conservation. Data from NatureCounts are used in academic research, species assessments, impact assessment, land-use planning, and numerous conservation processes.