Fall Migration Monitoring at the Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory has ended. We normally wrap-up September 30, but ran through October 3 this year since overnight temperatures were still relatively warm, potentially delaying movements of short-distance migrants. These three extra days were not enough, however, to find those missing migrants as counts fizzled into mostly… Read more »
Posts By: Nicole Linfoot
September 5 – 11, 2024
Every year, billions of birds from over 300 species migrate to Canada’s Boreal Forest to breed, and twice as many make the journey south to warmer wintering grounds.1 Some days at the Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory, we may see thousands of geese or songbirds flying overhead in the early morning hours, but this is… Read more »
August 29 – September 4, 2024
We have just begun owl migration monitoring at the Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory with nine Northern Saw-Whet Owls banded so far. Since the program’s inception in 2004, 2,248 of these pop can-sized owls have been banded. In 2016, our second target species, the slightly larger Boreal Owl, was added to the roster with fifteen… Read more »
August 15 – 21, 2024
As August slips away many of our long-distance migratory birds have departed for Central and South America so our counts and captures have slowed considerably. Soon we will say our last farewells to the few remaining stragglers and welcome tundra-breeding migrants. We must also say goodbye to our seasonal staff. While it has been a… Read more »
August 8 – 14, 2024
August was passing uneventfully for the Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory until August 8 when a Black Bear approached within 5 m of field staff while they were yelling at it. Thankfully we always carry a canister of bear spray – even better, we have not yet needed to use one. We did not care… Read more »
July 25 – 31, 2024
After being delayed by high winds and rain late last week which brought a few small trees down over our nets and trails, the Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory finally completed our breeding-focused Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship (MAPS) program on May 28, 2024. In general, MAPS went smoothly with a few delays caused by… Read more »
July 18 – 24, 2024
While the intention was to summarize the Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory’s 2024 Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship (MAPS) program, high winds followed by rain caused several delays and we could not complete our MAPS efforts. Yet, in what we have finished of our last period of MAPS was a first for our station: banding… Read more »
July 11 – 17, 2024
As the songs of spring morph into chips from hungry young birds to their diligent parents, we are seeing many fledgling birds in the nets. These fledglings are taking the next harrowing step towards adulthood as they leave the nest and finish growing. While all our songbirds start out helpless and require constant care from… Read more »
July 4 – 10, 2024
Here at the Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory (LSLBO) we are over half-way through our MAPS program, which focuses on breeding birds. So far in MAPS 44% of our captures were recaptures – that’s a bird that is already banded. Recapturing banded birds is the only way for us to accurately know the age of… Read more »
June 27 – July 3, 2024
The Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory is still monitoring locally breeding songbirds, but a few birds have already left their summer homes. This dispersal netted us a young Varied Thrush – our first captured during MAPS and only the ninth we have ever banded. While range maps will tell you this species cannot be found… Read more »
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While this Ruffed Grouse may have been the last bird captured during Fall Migration Monitoring, it was not the last bird banded since we cannot band these non-migratory Albertan gamebirds. To find out who got our last fall band, check out our fall summary: www.lslbo.org/weekly-banding-reports/september-26-october-3-2024/
Thank to the LSLBO banders for sharing their world (and their beautiful owls) with our Owl Night visitors. They are our favourite programs of the year! ❤️
It has been a busy owl season and we are even catching them in our Fall Migration Monitoring nets! Thank you to our banders who carefully extracted this Northern Saw-whet owl and its breakfast vole. If you have ever wondered what these tiny owls eat, it looks like "alot"! ![]()
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Check out how our Fall Owl Migration Monitoring season is going so far in the latest LSLBO weekly report.![]()
www.lslbo.org/weekly-banding-reports/september-19-25-2024/