Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Third Weekend of Banding 2013


Hi All,

This is my third report of the banding season for the weekend of September 14, 2013.

Chuck and Nancy went up and did some banding on Tuesday and Wednesday, the 10th and 11th of September. On Tuesday they caught 6 shins and had 1 bounce out. The next day they got 1 Merlin and 12 shins. Not bad for a couple days' work! Now that Chuck has retired, he and Nancy are able to set up on days that have more favorable winds. That should increase our numbers this season. Way to go, Chuck and Nancy!

Midweek total was 19 birds and only 1 bounce-out.
1 Merlin and 18 Sharp-shinned hawks.

On Saturday morning, September 14th, I met Chuck at the McDonalds on top of the hill near Spirit Mountain, just above Duluth. We had a bit of breakfast and drove on to the campsite. Rick had to work on Saturday and Trudi was taking care of some things at home so they did not come up this weekend. Nancy stayed home on Saturday and was going to come out to meet Chuck on Sunday and stay on with him until Monday. Todd had come up on Friday night and on Saturday morning, his daughter Jesse and her boyfriend Matt came up to help him out for the weekend. We had just arrived at the campsite when Allen Best drove in. He had been banding with Frank Nicoletti on Hawk Ridge last weekend and wanted to spend a day out at our place. Allen is a tour guide and deck hand for the Duluth Vista Fleet tour boats. He is very interested in raptors and wants to eventually become a falconer. With Allen's help, it took us a very short time to set up the blind and we got started at 9:00. A little while later Nancy Wilson (one of my TRC Bird Boot Camp graduates) and her son Eric arrived. They have been regulars at the blind for several years now. Mike Klimas and Mike's nephew and godson Sam Klimas stopped by for the day. Sam has been working with Gyrfalcons in Alaska as a contractor with the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Randy Burington, who works for the Canadian National railroad, was on call for the weekend in the Two Harbors area and also stopped up to see us.

The winds were light out of the South-southwest and the sky was overcast. A few Bald eagles and a lot of Turkey vultures started moving.  We got our first bird, a young female Sharp-shinned hawk at 10:50. It looked so big with a slow wing beat and a full crop, coming in from the Northeast, that at first glance, I thought it might be a Cooper's hawk.
We banded it, took a bunch of photos, and Eric was chosen to let it go. 

A little while later, an Osprey came flying up from the lake carrying a fish. We saw the same thing last weekend. It was probably trying to find a good place to eat the fish away from all the Bald eagles down by the lakeshore. At 11:15, Todd called up to say he had just caught a nice-sized, immature female Merlin. I went down to get it, but I forgot to take my camera along to get a shot of Todd, Jesse and Matt with the Merlin. Dang! (Fortunately, Allen got a photo with his phone.) We took it back up to the main blind, banded it, took a load of photos and Nancy got to let this one go.

We kept looking for more catchable hawks, but only saw some Ravens, Crows, an occasional goose and some Bald eagles going by. A pair of Sandhill cranes came in from the North to liven things up a bit. I just love watching them fly!

Our last bird of the day was a gutsy young Broad-winged hawk at 1:38. It came in on a long low glide from out over the barn. It stooped in looking just like a Red-tailed hawk except that it was ridiculously small. He plowed right into the net without flinching a bit. What a tough little guy! We had no more birds for the rest of the day and closed down at 4:15.

We got a total of 3 birds and no bounce-outs on Saturday.
1 Sharp-shinned hawk, 1 Merlin and 1 Broad-winged hawk.

After we closed down the blind for the night, every one else went home. Todd, Jesse and Matt fixed their supper at the campsite while Chuck and I headed over to Emily's Lighthouse Restaurant. I ordered my 54th hot meatloaf sandwich with fried onions, mushrooms and an extra bowl of gravy. Greg Wallgren also stopped in for supper at the Lighthouse with a group of friends and relatives and sat at a table right next to us. Greg is just recovering from knee surgery and is having a tough time getting around. I told him if he wanted to come to the blind while he is recovering, we could drive him right up to it and he wouldn't have to do any walking. We had a nice dinner and went back to join Todd, Jesse and Matt at the campfire. My nephew Colin who is working for the Boy Scouts, a little North of Ely, MN, was on his way down to stay with friends in Duluth, so he stopped by the campfire for a while to say hi.

We had a little rain come down in the middle of the night and on Sunday morning we were getting waves of drizzle and mist. Chuck and I had everything set up and ready to go at 7:40. There was a strong wind blowing from the Northeast and we saw lots of lines of geese coming over. One big flock decided to land in front of the blind, to rest up and eat some grass. They seemed a bit perplexed by our owl and crow decoys.

Around 10:00, Stan Tekiela, the world-famous wildlife photographer, author and naturalist, pulled up in his bus with a group of 10 birders. Stan has been bringing a group up every year since 2007. You can check out his fantastic photos and website at;


I went down to meet the group and we all trudged up through the drizzle and packed ourselves into the blind and over-flow area. We didn't get any birds in the net while they were there, but we did get to see a Merlin make a few spirited passes at the lure. We were also treated to an Osprey that seemed to have a huge issue with our decoy owl. It made many stoops at the fake owl, all the while calling very loudly. Before they left the blind, we took a photo of the group doing the "Wish-Bird" sign. (The “Wish-Bird” sign is given by crossing your thumbs and flaring your fingers to look like the bird you wish you had in your hands to release!) Then I followed them down to the bus to do my little migration talk and hand out a raptor identification sheet, a bookmark and one of my signed art prints for each person. They were all very happy to be back in the warm, dry bus and heading to lunch, after which they would stop off at Hawk Ridge. Before I left the cozy bus, Stan gave us signed copies of his latest guidebooks. Thank you, Stan!

Nancy and Chuck were going to stay up for a couple days as the weather was supposed to break by that afternoon, so, I packed up and went home around 1:00.

We got a total of 0 birds on Sunday (by the time I left at 1:00).
Our first Skunk Day this season.

Total for the weekend was 3 birds and no bounce-outs.
1 Sharp-shinned hawk, 1 Merlin and 1 Broad-winged hawk.

Grand Total for the year is 47.

In an effort to keep this file small and save me some time resizing photos, I am including my
"North Shore Banding - Frank Taylor" link so you can look at the photos from this last weekend.
Click on the link below and then scroll down below the report to see all the photos.
You can also review any of my weekly reports from last year by clicking on the 2012 link on the right side of that page.

To see my photos covering this report click on;
 

Please help hawks by supporting;
Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory (www.hawkridge.org)
The Raptor Center (www.raptor.cvm.umn.edu)
The National Eagle Center (www.nationaleaglecenter.org)

If you would like, you can friend me on Facebook.

Keep your eyes on the skies.

Frank & Trudi Taylor


01. First bird on Saturday morning was a young female Sharp-shinned hawk.
Third Weekend 2013.


02. Allen and Chuck holding the shin while Nancy Wilson takes a photo.
Third Weekend 2013.

03. Banding the Sharp-shin.
Photo by Nancy Wilson
Third Weekend 2013.

04. My new Swarovskis have a built-in hawk focus.
Photo by Nancy Wilson.
Third Weekend 2013.


05. Young female Sharp-shinned hawk doing an "Are you lookin' at me?"  pose.
Third Weekend 2013.


06. Mike, Sam, Allen, Randy, Chuck, Nancy and Eric with the shin.
Third Weekend 2013.


07. Sam holding the shin.
Third Weekend 2013.


08. Sam holding the shin.
Third Weekend 2013.


09. Allen holding the shin.
Third Weekend 2013.


10. Allen holding the shin.
Third Weekend 2013.


11. Eric holding the shin.
Third Weekend 2013.


12. Eric holding the shin.
Third Weekend 2013.


13. Randy, Mike, Sam and Allen helping Eric release the shin.
Third Weekend 2013.


14. Young female Merlin doing a "Coming in" pose.
Third Weekend 2013.

15. Jesse, Matt, me and Todd with the Merlin he caught.
Photo by Allen Best.
Third Weekend 2013.


16. Me, banding the Merlin.
Third Weekend 2013.


17. Young female Merlin doing a "Hollywood" pose.
Third Weekend 2013.


18. Allen, Sam, me, Randy, Eric and Nancy with the Merlin.
Third Weekend 2013.


19. Young female Merlin.    
Third Weekend 2013.


20. Young female Merlin.
Third Weekend 2013.


21. Eric and Nancy releasing the Merlin, (you have to look hard for the bird).
Third Weekend 2013.


22. Sandhill cranes coming in.
Third Weekend 2013.


23. Sandhill cranes landing.
Third Weekend 2013.


24. Young Broad-winged hawk doing a "Coming in" pose.
Third Weekend 2013.


25. Young Broad-winged hawk.
Third Weekend 2013.


26. Chuck taking the Broad-wing out of the net.
Third Weekend 2013.


27. Young Broad-winged hawk.
Third Weekend 2013.


28. Banding the Broad-wing.
Third Weekend 2013.


29. Showing the Broad-wing's back.
Third Weekend 2013.


30. Showing the Broad-wing's under wing pattern.
Third Weekend 2013.


31. Young Broad-winged hawk.
Third Weekend 2013.


32. Young Broad-winged hawk doing an "Are you lookin' at me?" pose.
Third Weekend 2013.


33. Showing Nancy how to hold the Broad-wing.
Third Weekend 2013.


34. Nancy holding the Broad-wing.
Third Weekend 2013.


35. Nancy holding the Broad-wing.
Third Weekend 2013.


36. Young Broad-winged hawk.
Third Weekend 2013.


37. Sam holding the Broad-wing.
Third Weekend 2013.


38. Sam holding the Broad-wing.
Third Weekend 2013.


39. Mike and Sam holding the Broad-wing.
Third Weekend 2013.


40. Mike and Sam releasing the Broad-winged hawk.
Third Weekend 2013.


41. Some Canada geese coming in to rest on a rainy Sunday morning.
Third Weekend 2013.


42. Canada geese foraging out in front of the blind.
Third Weekend 2013.


43. Canada geese checking out our decoy crows and owl.
Third Weekend 2013.


44. Stan's group doing the "Wish-Bird" sign on a rainy no-bird Sunday morning.
Third Weekend 2013.


45. Randy let me pretend to be working for the Canadian National railroad in his work vehicle.
Third Weekend 2013.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.