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Archived Postings

May 23, 2005 – May 29, 2005

May 23rd - May 29th Stephanie Yuill and Jeff Manchak, from Alberta Parks, were accompanied by Amy Watton and Richard Krikun, from the LSLBO, to participate in the Baillie Bird-a-thon. The Baillie Bird-a-thon is a fundraiser for the Baillie Fund, which provides financial assistance for environment research, education, and conservation programs. The bird-a-thon is a species count that can be conducted anytime in May. Participants have 24 hours to observe as many bird species as possible. The count started at 8:00 in the morning on May 27th at the bird observatory, where many of the songbird species could be observed. Luck played a role and the first magnolia warbler and western wood-peewee of the year were detected and made nice additions to the species list. After the banding day was finished, the team took off to look at the ponds around Widewater. Quite a few marsh and waterfowl species were picked up at those ponds. Jeff even heard a sora calling, which surprised all of us. The rest of the afternoon was spent making stops around the Slave Lake area and slowly increasing the species count. The birding ended at 6:00 in the evening, everyone was tired, it was becoming a long day. The final count was 90 species, just shy of the record for this area which still stands at 114. The reason for our shortfall was that the shorebirds were virtually absent from all the ponds in the area. There are about 20 species that can be seen regularly, but only two were spotted: the spotted sandpiper and the greater yellowlegs. Despite falling short of beating the record, everyone had a great time and are looking forward to next years count. Thanks to all who sponsored our team. Banding this week started with a bang. The rush of migrants from last week were still moving through the area. 30 birds were banded on the 23rd (with only three nets open due to the weather) and 45 birds were banded on the 24th. The migratory wave ended on the 25th when only 3 birds were banded. The rest of the week remained very quiet as well, with between 5 and 12 birds banded a day. A total of 114 birds were banded this week, bringing the grand total to 476. The arrival of new species had slowed down too. The magnolia warbler and western wood-peewee were the only two new observations for the week. There are very few expected late migrant species left to arrive.

2010