On June 10, the LSLBO’s Spring Migration Monitoring program of 2021 was completed. With coverage every day since April 17, we have successfully documented the beginning, middle, and end of migration for most species that breed north of us or locally. In total, our field staff recorded 160 unique bird species during the monitoring period…. Read more »
Weekly Reports
May 27 – June 2, 2021
Our 8th most commonly banded species at the LSLBO is the Canada Warbler, a grey and yellow bird whose most distinctive feature is its necklace of black feathers. They are a long-distance migrant that breeds in the boreal forest. Because of habitat change on their wintering grounds, they are listed as threatened in Canada, while… Read more »
May 20 – 26, 2021
As promised, results are in for the Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory’s annual fundraiser: the Great Canadian Birdathon. If you feel out of the loop, during the Birdathon teams across Canada do a marathon of birding, trying to find as many bird species as possible within 24 hours to collect donations for their favourite local… Read more »
May 13 – 19, 2021
With many season firsts, the LSLBO had a high diversity of bird species this week with 98 unique bird species recorded. Birdsong is filling the forest and sounds like the trees are more Myrtle Warblers and Black-and-White Warblers than leaves. The forest is not yet lush, but grows greener by the day to soon provide… Read more »
May 6 – 12, 2021
After the rush of about 44,000 geese last period from April 29 to May 5, migration monitoring has become dominated by songbirds at the Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory. Although the windy and rainy periods around the weekend put a damper on migration activity, since birds spent more time foraging rather than darting directly overhead,… Read more »
April 29 – May 5, 2021
Birds were counted in the droves at the LSLBO this week. Between recording 26 544 Greater White-fronted Geese, 12 972 Lesser Snow Geese, and 4 339 American Robins, there were also a handful of blackbirds, Tree Swallows, Orange-crowned Warblers, and several sparrow species made a first appearance for the year. Despite so much overhead migration,… Read more »
April 22 – 28, 2021
Migration is underway, if somewhat slowly because of the cold weather and snow. Yet interesting observations are made daily. The highlight of the week came in the few hours we were able to open the nets and captured a Townsend’s Solitaire – only the fifth time we have banded this species since 1994! Other bird… Read more »
April 17 – 21, 2021
Beginning in March and wrapping up this week, the Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory completed roadside owl surveys as part of a collaborative project with Strix Environmental Consulting on behalf of West Fraser. These surveys involve driving out to predetermined locations and listening for calling owls, as well as playing recordings of different owl songs,… Read more »
September 24 – 30, 2020
Pictured: This Brown Creeper was the last bird banded in our Fall Migration Monitoring program, 2020. After a week of high winds and few birds, on September 30 the Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory completed the 2020 Fall Migration Monitoring season. And what a season it’s been! With approximately 3,944 birds banded (Table 1), this… Read more »
September 17 – 23, 2020
It’s official, Fall Migration Monitoring 2020 has been the busiest for bird banding in the Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory’s 26 years of standardized monitoring. If you recall, this record was recently broken last fall when 3,761 birds were banded. With a week left to go in the fall program, we are already at 3,936… Read more »
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There has been another thrilling capture and it did indeed have long hind claws. These claws are hard to see when the bird is not in-the-hand, but they are this family's namesake. To discover who we banded read our weekly report: www.lslbo.org/weekly-banding-reports/september-14-20-2023/
It's that time of year again where we become night owls to capture these little owls! We have been running our owl migration monitoring program for two weeks now and it has been off to a slow start with half as many captures as this time last year. Read more: www.lslbo.org/weekly-banding-reports/september-7-13-2023/
It's not every day we are lucky enough to catch a Belted Kingfisher - in fact it has only happened twice in 30 years! Read more: www.lslbo.org/weekly-banding-reports/august-31-september-6-2023/