“Everyday, new species are coming in. It’s like Christmas. You never know what you’re going to get,” says Richard Krikun, the bander-in-charge at the Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory.
Krikun and his assistant Sara Bumstead have been getting up before dawn since Apr. 25 to band migrating birds.
“It’s been kind of slow so far,” says Krikun.
By the middle of last week the team had banded 16 birds, including four orange-crowned warblers, four ruby-crowned kinglets, two sharp-shinned hawks, two dark-eyed juncos and two hermit thrushes.
“It’s slow now, but in a week or two, there’ll be birds everywhere. We’ll be hopping,” says Krikun.
On a busy day, Krikun, Bumstead and a team of volunteers will band more than 100 birds. Last year, the team banded 1,133 birds.
In early May there is actually a lot of bird activity, but it’s often too cold or wet to set up bird nets in the morning, says Krikun.
“The safety of the bird is our primary concern,” he says. “If it’s cold or raining, the birds can get exposed.”
The nets are 2.6 metres high and 12 metres across.
Krikun and Bumstead unfurl 12 of them each morning in the woods in Lesser Slave Lake Provincial Park.
They start half an hour before dawn if the whether permits and spend the next four or five hours checking the nets every half hour for birds.
They use what is called passive mist netting to capture the birds.
“We don’t use lures like seeds. It would bias the result,” says Krikun.
Instead, the nets capture a random sample of birds as they fly through the woods.
On a leg of each bird captured, they place an aluminum band with a unique number. The team records biometric information. Wing length, weight, age, and sex.
The data is sent to Bird Studies Canada to track population trends. The ultimate purpose is to monitor migration trends.
Last spring, the team caught about 50 birds that had been previously banded, but the Slave Lake team had banded them all earlier.
Some birds fly into the nets over and over again, says Krikun.
Between checking the nets, the banders also perform a visual migration check. Once an hour they watch the skies for five minutes and record every bird species they see.
“If we see it, we count it,” says Krikun.
Identifying the birds takes skill, however. Birds are often identified by nothing more than a silhouette or call.
The banders also perform a census walk. Once an hour they walk along a 100 metre path and record everything they see or hear.
Some locals have been involved for years as volunteers and they have become expert banders, says Krikun. There are also a few new faces each year. Anyone can get involved, he says.
This is Krikun’s second year as a bander at the park and Bumstead’s first.
“It’s a beautiful location, no doubt about that,” says Krikun.
This summer, the pair want to prepare more presentations for the public and are working with parks interpreter Jeff Manchak at Alberta Parks.
They have tentatively planned a presentation at the Marten campground on the May long weekend, although the details haven’t been finalized yet.
Bird banding will continue through the spring migration until Jun. 10.

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