The Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory’s spring migration monitoring program continues to wind down. Only a handful of species including Cedar Waxwings, Mourning Warblers, and Alder Flycatchers are still passing through, although recent encounters with a Short-billed Gull (formerly Mew Gull) and an American Pipit were exceptionally late in the season for some excitement. With… Read more »
Station reports
May 22 – 28, 2025
The story of the birds this spring for the Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory is “it has been slow”. With 405 birds banded so far, we are well on our way to experiencing one of the slowest years for captures. We have just beat 2011 which caught 360 birds before the station was evacuated on… Read more »
May 16 – 21, 2025
Like last year, I, Nicole Krikun, am making a special guest appearance to write about my and Richard’s Birdathon run. For those of you who do not know or remember us, Richard was the Bander-in-Charge and I was the Assistant Bander at the LSLBO for many years. Although I no longer work with birds, I… Read more »
May 8 – 15, 2025
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 »
April 16 – May 7, 2025
The Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory began Spring Migration Monitoring on April 16. Our goal is to count every bird on-site over the morning. Part of this program involves capturing birds to mark them as individuals with a metal leg band. After banding, we can tell a specific chickadee apart from all the chickadees in… Read more »
September 26 – October 3, 2024
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 »
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 »
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 »
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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
This elusive Swainson's Thrush was the number one bird banded at the LSLBO during our spring migration monitoring program. For a recap of spring at the station, check out this update.![]()
www.lslbo.org/station-reports/spring-migration-monitoring-summary/![]()
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Summer is over quick for these incredible migratory birds. Our Fall Migration Monitoring program at the LSLBO will be starting up on July 12th!![]()
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All birds are handled by professionals and released unharmed as permitted by federal and provincial authorities.