Lady Flower Gardens is working to protect and preserve the many plant and animal species that are found here in our backyard. The birders of the Edmonton Nature Club play an important role in documenting the many bird species of the forest! This May, they hosted a field trip where beginner and experienced birders alike had the chance to observe their methods of banding the birds and see some of the many beautiful birds that can be found here! Below you can find some of the highlights from the field trip as well as some information about the birds we see here at LFG.

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Bird Species of the Old Growth Forest

See if you can identify any of the bird species below! To see if you are right, hover your cursor over the picture and you will find out which species it is, as well as an interesting fact about each kind of bird. If you click on the picture, you will open a link to hear what the bird's call sounds like.

White Throated Sparrow - these birds sing "oh dear canada canada canada" and are often heard in walks through the forest

Yellow Warbler - The beautiful rust coloured stripes on this one's chest indicate that it is a male

Chickadee - Affectionately known to the birders as "little monsters" because of their tendency to bite!

Least Flycatcher - sometimes these birds will play dead when they are being banded, but as Janos says, "don't believe everything you see"

Mourning Warbler - this was a very special find at LFG, we don't see them too often!

Cedar Waxwing - these birds have small red "waxy" tips on their wings, hence the name "waxwing"

American Goldfinch - this one is incredibly rare and special because it has leucism (which means it's head is light yellow instead of black)

Swainson's Thrush - these birds like to eat insects - if we're lucky hopefully they'll get some of the mosquitoes!

Wilson's Warbler - these birds are distinctive because of their jet-black crown

Gray Catbird - along with making cat-like sounds, these birds also mimic other birds, if you listen carefully you might even hear it mimicking a parrot!

Black throated green warbler - another special find, these birds love to sing "zoo-zee"

Ovenbird - these members of the warbler family are little ventriloquists making them difficult to find!

House wren - these cheery birds sound similar to a nightingale

American Redstart - these birds love to move, swaying their tails even when they perch

Bay-breasted warbler - another special find, this bird is rare and its numbers are declining due to deforestation and other environmental factors

Black and white warbler - unlike other warblers, these birds run up and down tree trunks, searching for food in the bark

Ruby Throated Hummingbird - these little birds can reach speeds of up to 100 km/h, and their wings beat 75 times per second

Yellow-bellied flycatcher - an elusive bird that makes its nest on the ground

American Pelican - if you are lucky you might see these resting on a sandbar down by the river

Pileated Woodpecker - searching for food, this bird pecks large holes in old and dying trees

Myrtle (Yellow Rumped) Warbler - one of the more common warblers you'll find in Alberta

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Steps in the Bird Banding Process

Step 1: Check the nets

There are six nets set up at strategic places in one area of the forest. They are very thin and difficult to see, which means that the birds will fly right into them. The nets are checked every half hour.

Step 2: Carefully remove the birds

This step requires an experienced and practiced hand, as sometimes the birds can get in quite a tangle! They are removed by our expert birders who are very careful not to hurt them.

Step 3: Transport back to the table

Once removed from the nets, the birds are placed in a cloth drawstring bag which helps to calm them and allows them to be transported to the table for banding and measurements. The bags are hung on hooks attached to the table and they are sorted by net number.

Step 4: Band the bird and record information

One by one, the birds are carefully taken out of the drawstring bags. First the birders identify the species and place a band around its leg. The size of the band depends on the type of bird. Once the band is on, they record the age, sex, wing chord (which is the length of one wing), and weight. They also check the fat and muscle on the bird to determine its health.

Step 5: Release the bird back into the forest

Once all of this information has been recorded, the birds are released back into the forest.