Station reports

Spring Migration Monitoring wrapped up on June 10th for our 33rd consecutive year at the LSLBO. Despite the late snow, the station operated daily from April 16 to June 10, 2026 for 56 days of spring monitoring effort this season.

Despite the winter snow that remained well into May, green up seemed to happen quickly once it started and the Saskatoon and other berries are already starting to form from the blossoms. Early spring was very slow at the station with the short-distance migrants arriving a little later than average. However, the neotropical long distance migrants were mostly right on time with Western Tanagers arriving almost two weeks early for some reason. Our spring species diversity was good overall with some early northern migrants observed lingering in the area during their long migration. Our spring migration capture data suggested that breeding efforts were right on track, but singing efforts were relatively quiet around the migration station this spring. It was hard to detect several species that should have been guarantees for this time of year at our site. Once again, a fair number of southern-associated and parkland species were observed this spring including a Western Meadowlark.

Visual Observations:

A total of 63,990 encounters were recorded from 163 species/forms. This was well above our average of 53,245 birds observed from 142.3 species during spring migration. Peak day for observations occurred on May 8th when over 11,000 Greater-white Fronted Geese and 4,000 Snow Geese were recorded flying overhead. Two new species were recorded in our visual counts: Barrow’s Goldeneye (#244) and Scissor-tailed Flycatcher (#245)

Other observation highlights included:

• Pine Grosbeak – 3rd recorded, and first since 2013
• Lark Sparrow – 5th recorded, last one in 2025
• Parasitic Jaeger – 6th recorded, last one in 2019
• Western Meadowlark – 7th recorded, last one in 2025
• Purple Martin – 8th recorded, last one in 2024
• Pacific Loon – 9th recorded – last one in 2019
• American Coot – 10th recorded, last in 2024
• Redhead – 11th recorded, last in 2016
• Oregon Junco – 20th recorded, last on in 2024
• Least Sandpiper – 29th recorded, last on in 2021

SEE FULL LIST OF SPECIES observed during Spring Migration Monitoring

Bird Banding: During spring migration, 695 birds were banded from 46 species which was well below our spring average of 927.6 birds/spring. However species diversity was right on our average of 45.7 species banded during spring. We tied a record low for American Robins this spring with only 2 banded (tied with 2010)

Top 5 bird species banded (# banded)

1. Swainson’s Thrush (114)
2. White-throated Sparrow (53)
3. American Redstart (50)
4. Canada Warbler (45)
5. Alder Flycatcher (41)

Spring Banding Highlights included: our 5th Brown Creeper and fourth Golden-crowned Kinglet.

Please note that all birds are handled by professionals and released unharmed as permitted by federal and provincial authorities.