Spring has arrived in the boreal forest which filled with the melodies of songbirds this week at the Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory. Many of our short distance migrants have established their breeding territories or have become rare as they travel to different habitats or farther north. Replacing them has been our long-distance migrants with… Read more »
Posts By: Patti Campsall
September 19 – 25, 2024
September 12 – 18, 2024
Overhead songbird migration and captures have been slow at the Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory as the end of Fall Migration Monitoring nears, but that is not to say nothing interesting has happened. We caught a Pileated Woodpecker – only the thirteenth we have ever banded and the first since 2019! As Canada’s largest woodpecker,… Read more »
August 22 – 28, 2024
Ask the field staff how the past week has been going at the station, and the response is SLOW! With fall arriving in the boreal forest, we are observing a significant slowdown in fall migration with captures of some warbler species slowing down to a trickle. We are also starting to observe flocks of migratory… Read more »
August 1 – 7, 2024
Summer is slipping away fast at the Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory. By the time August is over, we will have seen the last of most of our long-distance migrants that arrived only a few months ago for a hurried breeding season in the boreal forest. Their long journeys seem to have been worth every… Read more »
May 23 – 29, 2024
Most birds who migrate north of the Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory to the tundra have already left and taken with them the peak of overall avian diversity for the year. Yet the nets still have some surprises for us including the 35th ever (but ninth of spring) Connecticut Warbler and our fourth ever (second… Read more »
September 21 – 27, 2023
Fall migration continues to be unusually slow. The nights have been warm and the owls sparse, but there are other things of interest in the dark hours from the odd deer, flying squirrel, or bear to spectacular northern lights and migrating geese. It may come as a surprise that most migration occurs at night when… Read more »
August 10 – 16, 2023
Following August 10’s rain that stilled bird activity, things were looking up for us as we were able to open our ground level nets for most of the next two days. The good luck was not to last as last week’s Black Bear made a reappearance to again close our ground level nets as a… Read more »
July 20 – 26, 2023
By Danika Wack- Boreal Educator Fall migration has officially begun! By the time you read this article, the Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory will be close to wrapping up our MAPS breeding bird program and our field staff will soon be able to focus solely on the birds that have already started heading south. While… Read more »
July 13 – 19, 2023
Fall migration monitoring has officially begun! The warblers are beginning to move past the station including Tennessee Warblers, Yellow Warblers, and Myrtle Warblers. We are also observing many juvenile birds getting ready to depart the boreal forest plus 200 Tree Sparrows were spotted migrating overhead after the heavy rain last week. Although it seems like… Read more »
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A very special thank you to our LSLBO staff who do such an amazing job of connecting people of all ages with the importance of the birds that we love!Every summer, our amazing team delivers exciting education and research programs at the centre with the help of innovative partnerships with the Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory, Alberta Parks and the Lesser Slave Forest Education Society. As our summer staff get ready to head off on new adventures, join us in sending a huge thank you to our team this summer for sharing their knowledge and passion for birds and the boreal forest with all of our visitors. Thank you for everything!![]()
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2026 BCBC Staff![]()
Back L to R - Adriana, Ceiridwen, Araya, Robyn, Julia, Dana, Braidi. Front L to R - Olivia, Bronwyn, Alisa, Patti
The LSLBO has just wrapped up our 2026 MAPS program that monitors the breeding bird populations in the Lesser Slave Lake Area. The LSLBO has contributed in this important The Institute for Bird Populations program since 1994. ![]()
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One of the highlights this year was this male Mourning Warbler (band number 2820-92865) enjoying just some of the many mosquitos that we endured this summer. He was first banded during MAPS in 2020 and then recaptured once each year in 2021, 2024, and 2026 at our RESI station. He is now six years old and doing well! For all the MAPS highlights for this summer, check out our latest station report! ![]()
www.lslbo.org/station-reports/2026-monitoring-avian-productivity-and-survivorship-maps-summary/
Hard to believe, but Fall Migration Monitoring has already begun in the boreal forest. Experience the special world of bird banding at our PUBLIC BIRD OBSERVATORY TOURS taking place every WEDNESDAY and SATURDAY morning until the end of August. Drop-in at the station anytime between 9 to 11 am and join us for this fun family-friendly education program. For more information, call 780-849-8240 or email info@borealbirdcentre.ca