June 25 – July 1, 2020

Posted | filed under Weekly Reports.

By Laura Brandon, Boreal Educator All the rainy weather we’ve been receiving this season has been a challenge. However, despite the wet conditions, we just wrapped up a series of breeding bird surveys as part of a special research project for the local forest industry. Staff observed tons of evidence this week that songbirds are… Read more »

June 18-24, 2020

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By Patti Campsall, Executive Director The boreal forest is often referred to as North America’s bird nursery, and this week our researchers are observing lots of signs that birds are right in the middle of their nesting season. While finishing up the second round of the MAPS (Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship) program, they were… Read more »

June 11-17, 2020

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by Laura Brandon, Boreal Educator After completing a very cool and wet Spring Migration Monitoring season, the Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory has begun our MAPS (Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship) program which is a continent-wide project coordinated by the Institute of Bird Populations that studies breeding bird populations in order to better conserve them… Read more »

June 4 – 10, 2020

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By Patti Campsall – Executive Director June 10th marked the last day of Spring Migration Monitoring at the Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory. By this time, most of the migratory songbirds are usually done their migration and are busy establishing breeding territories.  However, the slow spring migration trend continued as we were still observing active… Read more »

May 28 – June 3, 2020

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By Laura Brandon, Boreal Educator As spring migration monitoring begins to wrap up for the season, the last of the spring migrants continue to trickle in at the Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory. The recent wet and windy weather has likely dampened migration for many species, causing them to forage at stopover sites a little… Read more »

May 21 – 27, 2020

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by Patti Campsall, Executive Director Spring is starting to ramp up at the LSLBO as we reach our peak migration monitoring period. Over the past week, we have observed consistent movement of Swainson’s Thrush, White-throated Sparrows, Chipping Sparrows, and Clay-coloured Sparrows. May 27th was an especially big day for warblers, with over 1000 warblers counted… Read more »

May 14 – 20, 2020

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By Laura Brandon – Boreal Educator If you’ve been lucky enough to enjoy the sunshine and spend some time outdoors over the last week, you will likely have noticed an increase in the number of beautiful bird songs around your neighbourhood and in the forest. This is no coincidence! In previous years, the third week of May… Read more »

May 6 – 13, 2020

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By Patti Campsall – Executive Director The staff at the Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory had just one word to describe this week; QUIET! After the initial rush of early season migrants like Dark-eye Juncos, American Tree Sparrows, and a wide range of waterfowl, migration has slowed down to a trickle. Although we are spotting… Read more »

April 30 – May 5, 2020

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Birdwatching: the perfect physical distancing activity Now that the snow has melted and spring has officially arrived, the beloved warblers are starting to trickle in at the Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory. The first Black-and-white Warbler of the season was encountered on May 4th, followed by the first Yellow Warbler two days later. Since both… Read more »

April 21 – 29, 2020

Posted | filed under Weekly Reports.

Spring is finally here, and the Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory is beginning our 27th consecutive year of monitoring the migratory and breeding birds along the shores of Lesser Slave Lake. However, due to the impacts of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we wanted to let everyone know about some major changes to our operations this… Read more »