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Archived Postings

April 25, 2009 – May 6, 2009

The classic sign that a long winter is over and spring has arrived is when the first American robin is heard singing high in the trees. Robins are one of the first of over 200 different bird species that migrate through the Lesser Slave Lake region toward their summer breeding grounds. In late April and throughout May newly arrived species are sighted on almost a daily basis. It is not long after the first robin of the year is heard that we are marveling at the brightly coloured wood-warblers, confused by the drab coloured sparrows, cheering the mosquito eating flycatchers, watching ducks squabble in the lakes and ponds, rooting for the falcon chasing its prey, witnessing the prey out-maneuver the falcon, and enjoying a forest filled with birdsong. I take special notice of migratory bird patterns because I enjoy bird watching as a pastime and it is my job. I work at the Lesser Slave Bird Observatory, an organization that has been monitoring the migratory populations of songbirds since 1994. The Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory opened for the first day of spring migration monitoring on April 25. It became quickly obvious that migration was already in full swing when over 1000 American robins were observed flying overhead. They were joined by dark-eyed juncos, American tree sparrows, northern harriers, and northern flickers. The large robin and junco migration continued over the last days of April with a few new species added to the sightings list: yellow-rumped warblers, hermit thrush, eastern phoebes, fox sparrows, song sparrows, ruby-crowned kinglets, sharp-shinned hawks, peregrine falcons, and a lot of ducks in the patches of unfrozen water on the lake. Songbird migration slowed down considerably in the first week of May as the bulk of the junco and robin migration came to an end. We saw the return of orange-crowned warblers, yellow-bellied sapsuckers, American pipit, Say’s phoebe, Lincoln’s sparrow, and white-crowned sparrows. The new arrivals were somewhat overshadowed by the large flocks of Sandhill cranes, snow geese, and greater white-fronted geese flying high in the sky. Bird banding is an important part of the migration monitoring methods used at the LSLBO. Not only does it provide more detailed information on migratory populations, but it is a neat way to see birds up close. The first day of banding started slow. Joe McWilliams from the Lakeside Leader came out to report on the banding, but we didn’t catch anything while he was visiting. I felt bad because shortly after he left dark-eyed juncos began to flock into the nets and we were quite busy. But the juncos were not finished. Our second day of banding was extremely busy with 169 birds banded, 144 of which were juncos. Anywhere over 100 birds is considered a very busy day of bird banding. It was a great kick start to the banding season. Only time will tell if the birds keep us that busy for the rest of the spring migration season.

2010