Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory

Wow! A Myrtle Warbler we banded on Sept. 4 was found in Minnesota on Sept. 28 - traveling 1,600 km in 24 days. This is only the third out of over 15,400 Myrtles that we have banded to be encountered somewhere else. Sadly, the dangers of migration proved too much for this bird and it died well before completing its first year of life after what appears to be a window strike.

You just have to smile when you have the chance to hold a Northern Saw-whet Owl! Our Assistant Bander Sachi enjoying one of her last owls before heading back home for the season. Thanks Sachi!

We recaptured a Northern Saw-whet Owl banded last year at the Beaverhill Bird Observatory near Tofield, Alberta! Although capturing songbirds banded by other stations is exceptionally rare, that's not the case with our owls. Since 2004, we have only captured 26 owls that were already banded. While most of these were owls we banded a few days earlier that were hanging around, 6 owls were actually banded at a different station! That means 23% of our recaptures are 'foreign recaptures' (banded outside of the LSLBO bubble)!

The final songbird banded for 2020 pretty neatly sums up the mood of our field staff as they pack away the passerine nets (curmudgeonly Brown Creeper). To read a summary of our fall monitoring season: http://www.lslbo.org/weekly-banding-r/september-24-30-2020/

This week an LSLBO record was broken! By banding this Red-breasted Nuthatch, we tied our previous record for the most birds banded during Fall Migration Monitoring! Read this article to learn who we banded to break the record and why we suspect this season has been so busy: http://www.lslbo.org/weekly-banding-r/september-17-23-2020/