Natural Heritage Information Centre (NHIC) Observation Reporting Form

This form can be used to submit casual sightings of species of conservation concern including species at risk and provincially rare species in Ontario.

Please note that you should only report one sighting per form submission. Once you have submitted the form, you can start a new submission to report another sighting.

We will review the information you share and evaluate for inclusion into the official provincial record. This information is used by a wide variety of agencies and researchers to study, protect, and plan for Ontario’s natural heritage.

The NHIC collects all observations of species of conservation concern, however, please note that some locations have more significance to the conservation of species than others (for example, a Golden Eagle nesting site is more significant than a Golden Eagle passing overhead). As a result, some submissions may not appear in our online data or be loaded to our database.

For alternative ways to report sightings (for example, to submit multiple sightings), and to learn how the information you submit will be used, please visit the NHIC rare species reporting webpage.

If you have any questions about using this form or if you have any accommodation needs, please email us at: NHICrequests@ontario.ca.

This survey should take around 5 minutes to complete.

Would you like to report the species' common name or scientific name?
Species' common name

If you do not know the species name, enter ‘unknown’.

Species' scientific name

If you do not know the species name, enter ‘unknown’.

Select a calendar date, or approximate date, of when you saw the species (or last saw the species).
Please include details of the event, such as: count, crossing the road, adult/juvenile, in an urban or a natural setting

Zoom to the location of the sighting using the map below, click to mark the location.

Note: Before you drop the pin on the map, zoom in as close as possible to ensure the pin is accurately placed.

In addition to providing the mapped location, it is very helpful to include a place name of where the observation was made such as an address or nearest intersection.
If you took a photo of the species and would like to share it, please upload it.
One file only.
10 MB limit.
Allowed types: gif, jpg, jpeg, png, avi, mov, mp3, mp4.
If there is no photo to share, please describe how you identified the species from other similar looking species. Without a photo or a description, we may not be able to verify the observation.