What do you get when you combine plywood, a plastic bucket, and a tunnel in the prairies? An artificial burrow for one of Alberta’s most fascinating underground dwellers: the Burrowing Owl! It might be surprising, but artificial burrows may be one way to help Alberta’s declining Burrowing Owl population respond to the potential negative impacts [...]
If you missed it, catch up on Part 1 of Cody Pytlak’s series here! Part 2 Spring shifts for ABMI field technicians are a time to wake up early, stumble through forests and bogs, and enjoy the sunrise as we listen to birds and record data. While birding feels like the focus of the spring [...]
Check out ABMI’s guest post on the Nature Conservancy of Canada’s blog, Land Lines, and learn about how we’re monitoring this elusive marsh bird, the Yellow Rail, in the Lower Athabasca region of Alberta! Top photo: Yellow Rail, Dominic Sherony.
“I’m Cody Pytlak, bringing you this morning’s bird calls for June 1st, 2014. It’s sunrise here in Peace River and the time is 5:08 am. Enjoy the birds!” I shout into the microphone, ten feet away, and for the next ten minutes I sit still in a small woodlot, headphones pressed to my ears, listening to [...]
Imagine standing in the middle of a forest. How far into the forest do you think you could hear? 200 metres? A kilometre? Perk up your ears. Could you count the number of birds calling in that forest? In other words, could you identify every bird that is within earshot? Believe it or not, while [...]
It’s June in Alberta. In response to the shift from spring to summer, Trembling Aspens in the Parkland have flowered and unfurled their leaves, migratory songbirds have returned to the expansive boreal forest, and Great Plains Toads in southern Alberta are searching for temporary wetlands in which to lay their eggs. But on top of [...]
We hear a lot about Alberta’s oil sands(1); in fact, the bitumen deposits in the province’s northeast are rarely far from the news. Most readers will have heard that oil sands production is expected to double in the next ten years(2), placing pressure on government to manage this industrial activity and its potential environmental effects. [...]
by Alex MacPhail It’s early March and a fresh blanket of snow reveals the scurry of rodents and the trudge of moose in the forest. The moment is serene and tranquil—nearby sounds are of the sway of aspen trees and the flaps of intermittent flocks of Snow Buntings flying overhead. A closer listen, however, reveals [...]