The Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory (LSLBO) is in the thick of Fall Migration Monitoring with our summer residents quickly vanishing. However, since we have officially passed any chance to complete our MAPS (Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship) operations, let’s do a preliminary roll-up of our MAPS results. MAPS is a continent-wide program monitoring songbird… Read more »
Posts Tagged: MAPS
July 3 – 9, 2025
Summer has just begun, but we are already seeing signs of fall for the birds. During our MAPS program, some adults are already beginning their flight feather moult in preparation for migration. While we’ve only caught a few fledglings so far, we hear them begging and see parents stuffing their bills with insects as these… Read more »
June 26 – July 2, 2025
The Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory is now over halfway done our Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship (MAPS) program as the forest comes alive with fledglings. To not keep all their eggs in one basket for too long, baby songbirds purposefully leave the nest, or fledge, well before they are truly independent. Well-meaning people may… Read more »
June 19 – 25, 2025
The Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory is busy monitoring breeding birds, as well as insects and spiders with relatively new arthropod surveys started in 2021. Once per ten-day period during beat-sheet surveys, a square sheet is held under a branch which is hit exactly ten times to shake insects off which we identify and count…. Read more »
July 25 – 31, 2024
After being delayed by high winds and rain late last week which brought a few small trees down over our nets and trails, the Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory finally completed our breeding-focused Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship (MAPS) program on May 28, 2024. In general, MAPS went smoothly with a few delays caused by… Read more »
July 18 – 24, 2024
While the intention was to summarize the Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory’s 2024 Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship (MAPS) program, high winds followed by rain caused several delays and we could not complete our MAPS efforts. Yet, in what we have finished of our last period of MAPS was a first for our station: banding… Read more »
July 4 – 10, 2024
Here at the Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory (LSLBO) we are over half-way through our MAPS program, which focuses on breeding birds. So far in MAPS 44% of our captures were recaptures – that’s a bird that is already banded. Recapturing banded birds is the only way for us to accurately know the age of… Read more »
June 27 – July 3, 2024
The Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory is still monitoring locally breeding songbirds, but a few birds have already left their summer homes. This dispersal netted us a young Varied Thrush – our first captured during MAPS and only the ninth we have ever banded. While range maps will tell you this species cannot be found… Read more »
May 30 – June 5, 2024
As June 10 brings closer the last day of the Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory’s Spring Migration Monitoring program, the forest is full of love, but few migrants. Despite the seemingly persistent high winds and rain which kept the nets shut, we continued to count birds daily. While most migrants were large flocks of Cedar… Read more »
July 27 – August 2, 2023
On July 30, 2023, the Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory concluded the second of our four core monitoring projects: Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship (MAPS), which focuses on breeding birds. With Spring Migration Monitoring a distant memory, all that is left is to continue our Fall Migration Monitoring until October, and to wait for Northern… Read more »
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Calling birders in and around Slave Lake. Have you seen Evening Grosbeak at your feeders? We want to hear from you! Sometime late November, visiting researchers may tag your grosbeaks to help understand why their populations have declined by 80% since the 1970s. Include your observation's date and location when you post to eBird, iNaturalist, or email us directly (info@LSLBO.org).
Last night we broke our previous capture record for Northern Saw-whet Owls (213 in 2021)! We're on the northern edge of this species' range and average just 109 Saw-whets per season.![]()
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* Birds are handled by professionals and released unharmed as permitted by federal and provincial authorities. *
Our Fall Songbird Migration Monitoring efforts have finished for 2025 with some last minute highlights! Read more about how fall went and get the stats: www.lslbo.org/weekly-banding-reports/october-2-8-2025/![]()
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* Birds are handled by professionals and released unharmed as permitted by federal and provincial authorities. *