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. Photos of some of these bugs are uploaded to our iNaturalist account (@LSLBObs).

Songbirds may time hatching their eggs to match insect peaks. If peak insect timing shifts, younger birds could have less food or lower quality food and become less fit or even starve. The importance of healthy insect populations as a prerequisite for healthy bird populations cannot be ov…

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