Songbird Festival

The Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory’s Songbird Festival is an annual celebration of spring migration. The festival began in 1994, the same year that the Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory (LSLBO) was formed. The LSLBO is a banding station and member of the Canadian Migration Monitoring Network. We track the migration of Canada’s birds in the spring and fall to collect data about population trends, demographics, phenology, and other essential information for bird conservation.

The Songbird Festival is a fun and educational weekend for both families and birders alike. Every year the festival kicks off bright and early on Saturday with our early-bird pancake breakfast. After breakfast there are a variety of guided birding hikes, nature workshops, and tours of our migration monitoring station.  There’s also lots of hands-on activities for the entire family, including face-painting, birdhouse building, and crafts.

The Songbird Festival was originally held at the migration monitoring station, but now the Boreal Centre for Bird Conservation is the host of all the events.