On June 10, the Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory wrapped up Spring Migration Monitoring after 56 consecutive days of counting birds. Spring began promising on April 16 with counts of over 5,000 Slate-coloured Juncos despite the warm temperatures and little snowfall over the winter. Juncos normally move through before we can start monitoring when early… Read more »
Posts By: Nicole Linfoot
May 30 – June 5, 2024
As June 10 brings closer the last day of the Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory’s Spring Migration Monitoring program, the forest is full of love, but few migrants. Despite the seemingly persistent high winds and rain which kept the nets shut, we continued to count birds daily. While most migrants were large flocks of Cedar… Read more »
May 15 – 22, 2024
On May 15, Team Tanager the Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory ran our Birdathon fundraiser and were able to find 102 species – a great total, but none of them were exceptional observations. Our other fundraising team also recently ran their traveling Birdathon and long-time readers may recognize this ‘voice’. Greetings from Sherwood Park! Some… Read more »
May 9 – 15, 2024
Although goose migration has tapered off, our songbirds arrived in droves after being held up by stormy and snowy weather in southern Alberta last week. The biggest days for migration at the Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory were May 9 and 10 with around 2,500 Myrtle Warblers counted each day and diversity shot up with… Read more »
April 16 – May 8, 2024
On April 16, 2024, the Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory began our 31st year of monitoring bird migration! While the start of April was warm and had us eager to start our spring program, the temperatures dropped and periods of rain and snow became more frequent. Despite infrequently opening the nets, we have banded 140… Read more »
September 28 – October 3, 2023
On October 3, Fall Migration Monitoring at the Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory ended after 84 days. We normally end on September 30, and this is the first time since 2008 that we pushed into October due to the unseasonably warm weather, which may have delayed movements of some short-distance migrants. It remains unclear if… Read more »
September 14 – 20, 2023
Another slow week of migration (thanks mostly to strong winds) has concluded with an exciting capture: the Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory’s sixth ever Lapland Longspur. Though we may see them near daily in the late fall, they are quite unlikely to find themselves in our nets. The last one banded was back in September… Read more »
September 7 – 13, 2023
We have finished our second week of owl migration monitoring at the Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory. There are two species that we target here. The first is the Northern Saw-Whet Owl, one of the smallest owls in Canada (second only to the Northern Pygmy-Owl) and our most frequent flier. Since the program began in… Read more »
August 31 – September 6, 2023
As we enter September, fall migratory movement has been very slow, the bulk of which has been Myrtle Warblers in foraging flocks and occasionally landing in our nets. Yet this past week a rare and exciting capture was made: the Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory’s second ever Belted Kingfisher—and first ever female. The last Belted… Read more »
August 24 – 30, 2023
The Black Bears have finally begun to agree that there are no berries left at our station and have made themselves scarce, so we have started opening our ground-level nets. To compare capture rates between time periods with different effort put into netting, we keep careful track of when we open and close each net… Read more »
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These species may not share colours, sizes, families, habitats, diets, migration or breeding strategies, but they do share something. Find out what: www.lslbo.org/weekly-banding-reports/june-26-july-2-2025/![]()
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*Birds are handled by professionals and released unharmed as permitted by federal and provincial authorities.*
Did you know birds aren't the only wildlife we monitor in the summer? We also contribute to Caterpillars Count! - an international citizen science project to document changes in arthropod abundances and seasonal timing. Although not the namesake of this program, one of the groups that fascinates us most is the spiders who display sexual dimorphism like some birds!![]()
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Read more: www.lslbo.org/weekly-banding-reports/june-19-25-2025/![]()
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Caterpillars Count! caterpillarscount.unc.edu/
Did you know a single male Yellow Warbler may have around 15 distinct songs he will alternate between for specific situations? Learn more at: www.lslbo.org/weekly-banding-reports/june-12-18-2025/