The wind has continued to plague our monitoring operations again this week, but conditions are improving. Unlike last week, where we were only able to open the mist-nets for 52% of the monitoring period, this week we have achieved 68% of our netting coverage. Although we have had the nets open for longer, we have… Read more »
Weekly Reports
August 16-22, 2019
Things continue to slow down for our Fall Migration Monitoring program with only 169 birds banded in the last week. The weather has not been cooperating with rainy days becoming windy days – preventing mist-netting to the extent that only one day this week achieved full net hours. Not only has the weather been impacting… Read more »
August 9-15, 2019
This week was the slowest week yet this fall. Even so, 344 birds were banded and just as things seemed to be really slowing down, we caught 91 birds on August 14, bringing our total bands to 2,008 birds from 50 species. Since last week, Rose-breasted Grosbeaks have surpassed their previous fall banding record of… Read more »
August 1-8, 2019
Fall Migration Monitoring continues to keep field staff busy at the Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory. As of August 9, we have already banded 1793 birds of 45 species. We are getting very few of our own bands recaptured, suggesting that many of our locally breeding birds have already left the area. With seven weeks… Read more »
July 25-31, 2019
Pictured: Water flooding over road south of Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory, July 25. This week for the LSLBO had a dash of chaos tossed into the middle. A storm rolled in on July 25 that would hinder observations for the day, flood the nearby community of Marten Beach, and wash out two culverts along… Read more »
July 19-25, 2019
Fall migration began picking up this week at the LSLBO. Many of our warbler species are already on the move and the songs of remaining birds have become very intermittent and half-hearted. The forest has become much quieter and we are seeing less evidence of active breeding every day. July 21 saw the first burst… Read more »
July 11-18, 2019
As surprising as it may sound, we have nearly completed our first week of Fall Migration Monitoring at the LSLBO after starting operations on July 12. Although there is still ample evidence of active breeding in the area, a trickle has begun of birds heading south for the winter. We have already banded nearly 250… Read more »
July 7-13, 2019
Just how many birds caught already have bands on them? A common question at the banding lab, and one that we as banders are also very interested in. Over the duration of this past spring migration, we logged 101 recaptures. The majority of these recaptures are usually individuals who have recently been banded but are… Read more »
June 30 – July 6, 2019
This week is our fourth MAPS period. We banded the first fledgling of the year, a Myrtle Yellow-rumped Warbler who inspired our weekly article. Read on and meet Mywa, an opinionated Myrtle Warbler fledgling who chats up one of our banders about breeding research. Morning chat with Mywa “Hey!” A small brown, streaked bird is… Read more »
June 21-27, 2019
We completed the second round of our Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship (MAPS) program. We have recaptured many birds that were banded at the same sites in previous years; several of which we estimate to be over 4 years old. A pleasant capture was three silky Cedar Waxwings. These birds feel as soft as they… Read more »