The Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory began Spring Migration Monitoring on April 16. Our goal is to count every bird on-site over the morning. Part of this program involves capturing birds to mark them as individuals with a metal leg band. After banding, we can tell a specific chickadee apart from all the chickadees in the forest.

By this time last year, we had banded 137 birds. Yet this year we are at just 45 birds banded despite the nets being opened for 60% more time thanks to the nice weather. With how slow it has been, I’ve had time to ruminate on an essay I first read over a decade ago. In A Sand County Almanac published in 1949, Aldo Leopold describes his banding activities on his fa…

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