Although goose migration has tapered off, our songbirds arrived in droves after being held up by stormy and snowy weather in southern Alberta last week. The biggest days for migration at the Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory were May 9 and 10 with around 2,500 Myrtle Warblers counted each day and diversity shot up with… Read more »
Weekly Reports
April 16 – May 8, 2024
On April 16, 2024, the Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory began our 31st year of monitoring bird migration! While the start of April was warm and had us eager to start our spring program, the temperatures dropped and periods of rain and snow became more frequent. Despite infrequently opening the nets, we have banded 140… Read more »
September 28 – October 3, 2023
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 »
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 »
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The 30th Annual Slave Lake Christmas Bird Count will be taking place on Sunday, December 15th this year. This one-day census of the wintering birds in the Slave Lake Area is always a highlight for local residents. Join one of our birding groups to search for birds in town or local forest routes. Or you can help us out by recording the number and type of birds visiting your feeder that day. New participants are always welcome for this fun event. ![]()
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Feeling a little rusty on your bird ID? We will be holding a special Winter Bird ID Crash Course on Thursday, Dec 12th at the local Library for anyone wanting to brush up on their winter bird ID before the Christmas Bird Count. ![]()
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For more information or to sign up for the Christmas Bird Count or the Winter Bird ID presentation, just call 780-849-8240 or email info@borealbirdcentre.ca
Today, the Lesser Slave Forest Education Society and Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory said goodbye to Danika Wack; our wonderful Boreal Educator. After spending 2 and a half years with us delivering school fieldtrips, bird observatory tours, and community outreach programs, Danika is heading off on some well deserved travel adventures. Thank you for everything you have done for our education programs, your kind and generous spirit, and for being such an integral part of our team. Movie nights won't be the same without you, but we wish you well on your exciting adventures to come! ![]()
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(L to R) Patti - LSLBO Executive Director, Danika, Cori - LSFES Executive Director. And if it looks like we are trying to keep her from leaving, we were!
Last night was our Assistant Bander Bronwyn's last shift on our Fall Owl Monitoring Program as she gets ready to head home after a long season. Staff came out to enjoy the evening with her and we were very lucky to have a Northern Saw-whet Owl and a very feisty Boreal Owl stop by as well! Wishing safe travels to Bronwyn as well as the owls!