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 »
Weekly Reports
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 »
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 »
August 17 – 23, 2023
In another week of sharing our station with Black Bears we were forced yet again to frequently keep our twelve ground-level standard nets closed and rely on our two mid-canopy aerial nets. However, less frequent bear encounters let us open the ground nets a few times and we were able to band 632 birds this… 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 »
August 3 – 9, 2023
Our past week has seemed to drag on not necessarily because the birds were not moving, or because of a single Grizzly Bear sighting, but because one stubborn and difficult to spook Black Bear has made us keep most of our nets closed. While we have been opening our two nets that are raised up… Read more »
July 27 – August 2, 2023
On July 30, 2023, the Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory concluded the second of our four core monitoring projects: Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship (MAPS), which focuses on breeding birds. With Spring Migration Monitoring a distant memory, all that is left is to continue our Fall Migration Monitoring until October, and to wait for Northern… Read more »
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29th Annual Slave Lake Christmas Bird Count is coming soon![]()
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 17th ![]()
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Join us next Sunday for a fun day of winter birding around Slave Lake. Our goal - to count as many birds in Slave Lake as we can in one day! Don't worry if you are not an expert birder. We work in teams so you will have the chance to learn some tips from our more experienced participants. This annual census of winter bird populations will take place in over 2000 locations over the holiday season and it is the longest running Citizen Science program in North America. ![]()
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Even if you can't join us, you can still help us out. Send in your tips on the locations of the busy bird feeders around town. Or keep track of the birds that visit your backyard feeder that day and send in your data. ![]()
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To sign up for the Slave Lake Christmas Bird Count, contact us at 780-849-8240 or email info@borealbirdcentre.ca. We would love to have you join us! ![]()
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Not from Slave Lake? Check out the CBC map at Birds Canada for a count near you! ![]()
www.birdscanada.org/bird-science/christmas-bird-count
LESSER SLAVE LAKE BIRD OBSERVATORY SOCIETY![]()
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NOTICE OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING![]()
5:00 pm. December 7th, 2023![]()
Location: Boreal Centre for Bird Conservation. ![]()
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All members and supporters of the Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory Society are invited to attend our upcoming Annual General Meeting on Thursday, December 7th, 2023. ![]()
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The meeting will take place at the Boreal Centre for Bird Conservation. However, members will be able to attend the AGM virtually via ZOOM if they have pre-registered for the meeting. ![]()
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PLEASE RSVP to Patti Campsall, LSLBO Executive Director via email at executive.director@borealbirdcentre.ca or you can also phone 780-849-8240![]()
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Meeting ZOOM link, AGM Agenda and other meeting documents will be send out prior to the meeting to all registered attendees.![]()
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Interested in becoming more involved in the LSLBO or joining our Board of Directors? Please contact Patti Campsall to find out all the ways you can help support our programs!
As we wrapped up 30 years of bird banding at the LSLBO this fall, Robyn Perkins, - LSLBO Bander in Charge shared some of her fall migration experiences with the CBC Radio Active show last week. Wonderful job Robyn!![]()
www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-52/clip/16014728