Weekly Reports

It has been a fantastic week out at the Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory! The migration flood-gates opened and we observed heavy overhead migration every day. The primary migrants were chipping sparrow and clay-coloured sparrow and in one single morning around 5000 chipping sparrow were seen flying by. Not only were birds moving in high… Read more »

We are over a month into spring migration and we are still waiting for things to really pick up at the observatory. We just reached the 300 mark for banded birds and slate-coloured junco are still sitting as the top banded species even though we haven’t caught one in over two weeks. It’s not that… Read more »

Migration really picked-up over the past week. Every day we are counting hundreds of birds of an increasing number of species. Myrtle warbler, American robin and blackbirds have had daily observation totals in the 500’s and orange-crowned warblers, northern flicker, and white-throated sparrows are pulling in big numbers as well. New species that have shown… Read more »

Alright, I think I can say it now – spring is actually here (knock-on-wood). With typical spring weather returning this week bird activity has surged. We have new species arriving at the lab every day including winter wren, hermit thrush, Lincoln’s sparrow, yellow-bellied sapsucker, savannah sparrow and northern flicker. The ruffed grouse are drumming away… Read more »

Another week into spring migration and spring is still being evasive. Heavy snow and cold conditions have prevented banding nearly every day and only a handful of birds have been captured, including a couple sharp-shinned hawks and a hermit thrush. Despite slow banding, observations have been conducted every day and birds are still showing up… Read more »

It’s spring! Well it was spring and then winter came back, but spring will resurface… It always does. Regardless of the weather missing the ‘it’s spring’ memo, the birds got it. American robin, Slate-coloured junco, American tree sparrow, as well as tons of swans, geese and ducks have shown up in the Slave Lake region… Read more »

Last week I wrote about how fall migration was over and gave some approximate final numbers. This week I actually have the real numbers that I can share. A total of 2789 birds were banded representing 56 species. This is well over the average total of 1814 and slightly over the average diversity of 55…. Read more »

We have hit the end of the fall migration monitoring season. There may be a few leaves still lingering on the trees and the grass may still be green, but in regards to bird-life: winter is here. It will be a long, cold wait until bird-song is once-more the soundtrack of the outdoors. This is… Read more »

Birding, both in regards to banding and observations, has slowed significantly since my last article. It’s funny how one day there can be thousands of myrtle warblers migrating and foraging and then the very next day maybe five trickle through the area. That is the nature of bird migration, though, these birds are travelling and… Read more »

Holy! What a week! Bear with me while I assault you with some numbers. Gone are my worries about us hitting the average this fall; this past week we have banded 745 birds bringing the season total up to 2429 – well over the 1850 average. What is crazier than banding 745 birds in 7… Read more »