August was passing uneventfully for the Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory until August 8 when a Black Bear approached within 5 m of field staff while they were yelling at it. Thankfully we always carry a canister of bear spray – even better, we have not yet needed to use one. We did not care to share the forest with that bear, so we packed up and left early.
Over the next few days, we scoured the area for fresh bear signs and were extra cautious with our nets, opening only the nets high in the canopy or easily seen from the trail. We are happy to report that we have not seen a bear or even signs of foraging (and pooping) around the station since.
Both our captures and overhead migration have been subdued compared to last week, but more diverse. Almost all the expected warbler species have been moving through and two days counted over 65 species each and only August 14 saw under 40 bird species. Yet, that slow, smoky day let us put some new equipment to use.
We recently learned that since 2021 the Albertan Government has deployed PurpleAir monitors in small communities to cheaply fill in gaps in air quality measurements. The Town of Slave Lake even has one on the town office. These units are small white cylinders with two sensors that monitor not just air particulate matter concentrations, but air pressure, humidity, and ambient temperature too.
Since weather conditions can differ dramatically between town and the monitoring station, this spring we purchased our own PurpleAir monitor with generously donated funds. It now decorates the front of our banding building. If you stand under it and look up, there is a light showing the current air quality (the smaller light on the other side indicates that the unit is powered and recording data to internal memory). While our unit is not connected to WiFi since the lab can only provide solar power, other sensors upload their data in real time to the PurpleAir map.
Little is known about how birds respond to wildfire smoke. Yet smoky days – and the forest fires that cause them – are becoming increasingly common. As a migration monitoring station dedicated to quantifying bird behaviour, we are a prime location to study the impacts of wildfire smoke on birds, but we needed to quantify the smoke first.
On August 14, our unit’s light was a steady purple all day prompting us to mask up, cancel our drop-in tour, and keenly watch every bird to see if we could detect a difference in behaviour. While there was hardly a bird to be heard, it was unfortunately windy which can also dampen bird activity. We cannot say with confidence if it was the smoke, wind, or both to prompt our sudden drop in bird activity. We will surely get more smoky datapoints before our season is over.
By Robyn Perkins, LSLBO Bander-in-Charge
