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How many species can you count in 24 hours?
Form a team, count, raise money for alvar conservation.
100% of funds raised supports efforts to protect nature on the Carden Alvar.
Want to take part in 2025? Email Meg W at nature @couchconservancy.ca
Are you in?
Take part in the 21st annual Carden Challenge - count species, raise money and protect nature. Read the info on the page to learn about the event.
Form a Team
Pick the category that best suits your team:
Competitive - for teams who can count more than ~100 bird species.
Recreational - for teams who like to count species, but want to do it at a more leisurely pace.
Biodiversity - teams that count everything and are vying for the trophy!
Hybrid - no maximum of team members, can split up to count. The point is to take part! Download Full rules here.
Where to?
Come out to the Carden Alvar OR stay in your own backyard / neighbourhood (stay within a 8 km radius).
Register!
Email Meg Whitton nature(at)couchconservancy.ca with your team name, team members, category (competitive, recreational, biodiversity or hybrid) and where you will be counting from.
Fundraise!
Every dollar raised matters. Funds raised helps us care for this landscape, empowers us to work towards protecting more Alvar and more. There is no minimum amount to fundraise.
Prizes
Last year's prizes included a weekend stay in an off-grid Cabinscapes rental, passes to Arcadia Earth Toronto, Cabela's outdoor gear, passes to Treetop Trekking, The Wye Marsh and Children's Heartworks Studio in Orillia & road trips in a box from Guess Where Trips?
Resources
Scroll to the bottom of this page for documents, species lists and other resources for studying.
Count!
On May 23 - 24, 2025 (6pm - 6pm), count as many species as you can & share your journey with us while spreading awareness of the critical need to protect nature. Your team can take part from home or on the Alvar.
Featured Species:
What is an Alvar?
In an area east of Orillia and northwest of Lindsay, a flat limestone landscape called the Carden Plain harbours rare habitats known as alvars. Alvars occur only on limestone bedrock with little or no soil, where spring floods and summer droughts create harsh conditions. Many of the wildflowers, native grasses and invertebrate species found on alvars normally occur in the western provinces, and many are rare. These habitats are globally imperiled, occurring only in the south of Sweden and scattered around the Great Lakes Basin. Carden Township’s alvars are thought to be among the richest in the province, with a great diversity of alvar species.
Mammals:
- Moose
- Red Fox
- Snowshoe Hare
- Otter
- Porcupine
Birds:
- Eastern Loggerhead Shrike
- Bobolink
- Eastern Meadowlark
- Black Tern
- Bald Eagle
Reptiles & Amphibians:
- Blanding's Turtle
- Eastern Milksnake
- Spotted Salamander
- Western Chorus Frog
- Wood Frog
Odes & Leps:
- Aurora Damsel
- Racket-tailed Emerald
- Canadian Tiger Swallowtail
- Monarch Butterfly
- Wild Indigo Duskywing
THANK YOU TO OUR PRIZE DONORS:
Four passes to an immersive journey through Planet Earth in Toronto, ON
Two night stay at a cabinscape
Outdoors items from the Barrie location
2025 HIGHLIGHTS
-
Total species - 177 (Birds – 151, Mammals - 10, Herps - 10, Lepidoptera - 3, Odonata – 3
-
NEW to list – Common moorhen
-
A number of species only counted by one team in Carden (some listed here): White-crowned Sparrow, Palm Warbler, Cape May Warbler, Mourning Warbler, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Sedge Wren, Purple Martin, Philadelphia Vireo, Cooper's Hawk, American Black Duck, Eastern Milk Snake, American Toad, Cabbage White, Northern Crescent, Common Green Darner
-
A number of species NOT counted by ANY team in Carden (some listed here): Common Gallinule, Great-horned Owl, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Willow Flycatcher, Eastern Loggerhead Shrike, Bear, Swainson's Thrush
- Over $21,000 raised!
2024 species list including what each team counted - click here to download the Excel file
COMPETITIVE
Fauna Fanatics
116 bird species
BIODIVERSITY
Millennial Falcons
134 species
RECREATIONAL
Fantastic Fledglings
97 bird species
HYBRID
Let's Wing It
110 bird species
DAN BONE MEMORIAL CUP
Watching With Wonder
2 butterflies
TOP FUNDRAISING TEAM
Top Fundraising Team: Watching With Wonder, $4,800
TOP FUNDRAISERS
Tanya Clark, $4,306
KIDS DRAW
- Will Moser - Wye Marsh family pass
- Cass Guoth - Heartworks Studio
- Gilda Minges - Treetop Trekking passes
CABINSCAPE DRAW
Krystin Ferguson
TEETER ASS TROPHY
The Moser Family