Around this time every summer the world outside our windows is bursting with life. Vibrant green vegetation with splashes of colourful wildflowers and soon-to-be ripe fruit has thoroughly replaced the long lingering whites of winter and browns of early spring. Insects are abundant with ants, butterflies, bees, and pesky mosquitoes easily found. Alongside these summer… Read more »
Posts By: Nicole Linfoot
June 23 – 29, 2022
The LSLBO has finished our second round of MAPS banding focusing on our breeding birds. With 61 birds banded in the last period, our MAPS banding total now stands at 173 birds banded from 21 species. Although there were no captures that stood out in the last round, we are expecting this round to be… Read more »
June 16 – 22, 2022
As we finish our second period of MAPS, shifts in breeding conditions are plentiful. These changes give hints to each bird’s nesting activity without us having to find the nest. The most detailed clues come from female songbirds who are often solely responsible for incubating a pair’s eggs. To efficiently warm these eggs, females drop… Read more »
June 9 – 15, 2022
As June 10 concluded, so too did the 2022 Spring Migration Monitoring program at the Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory. With daily coverage since April 18, arrivals and migration peaks have been documented for 160 bird species. Although bird movements began slow-steady with a few sparrow rushes early in the monitoring period, there was a… Read more »
June 2 – 8, 2022
This week has been surprisingly busy for the Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory’s spring migration monitoring program with 318 birds banded between June 2 and 8. Although we are capturing expected numbers of late season migrants, such as Canada Warblers, Alder Flycatchers, and even a rare Connecticut Warbler, our nets have also seen unusually high… Read more »
May 26 – June 1, 2022
Though the air is filled with birdsong as Tennessee Warblers and White-Throated Sparrows compete for loudest voice in the boreal forest, migration has continued to slow this week at the Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory (LSLBO). While slow, the trickle of birds in the mist nets has brought our organization to a milestone on May… Read more »
May 19 – 25, 2022
On May 18 Team Tanager went out for their big day to see as many species as possible for the Great Canadian Birdathon. Teammates Wayne Bowles, Robyn Perkins, Bronwyn Robinson, and first-timer Nola Sheets spent the morning at the migration monitoring station before heading out to tour a few hotspots around town. In total, they… Read more »
May 12 – 18, 2022
This week has been unusually slow and quiet for the Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory. Many of the species which breed north of us and migrate early in the spring have already moved on with only a few stragglers left. However, many of the later migrants have yet to arrive. Most years, this week is… Read more »
May 5 – 11, 2022
After all the snow, rain, and generally cold weather this last week, not much has been recorded moving through the station and even less has been caught as the nets were mostly frozen shut. The wind has pushed the lake ice against the shore, closing off what little open water we had and severely limiting… Read more »
April 18 – May 4, 2022
On April 18, the Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory began its 29th year of monitoring when we started documenting spring migration for 2022. As many will have noticed, the beautiful, warm weather which melted much of the snow at the start of April did not last and it has been rather cold with rainy and… Read more »