Sixth Weekend of Banding 2013

Hi All,

Here is my sixth report of the banding season for the weekend of October 5, 2013.

"Into each life, a little rain must fall" and so it was that on Saturday, we had the first weekend in over ten years that we were completely rained out and not able to band.

Saturday morning started out well enough. I left home at 4:45 am and drove up to North Branch where I met Marc Rude, who jumped in with me to ride the rest of the way to Duluth. His wife, Jackie, and Trudi were going to drive over to the Apple Fest in Bayfield, Wisconsin, spend the day there, and meet us later at the blind. Marc and I arrived at the Burger King on London Road and met with Rick, who was already there at 7:10. I knew it was not going to be a good day for banding when the wind made you walk at a 45° angle to get from the car to the front door of the Burger King. Rick was already inside, sitting with my good friend Larry Miller who drove up from Chicago, Illinois, for the weekend. Larry had brought along his friend Liz Copeland who is a naturalist and they were excited about coming up to visit us at our banding site. We said our hellos and sat visiting for a while, when we noticed that Chuck and Nancy were uncharacteristically late in getting there. Rick took a look out of the window and saw Chuck's van over at the McDonalds across the street. OOPS!!! My Bad! When I talked to Rick and Larry on the way to Duluth, I told them to meet Marc and me at the Burger King, forgetting that I had agreed last weekend to meet Chuck and Nancy at the McDonalds. I did a wet, angled run across the street to get Chuck, since it was my fault he was over there. Nancy was the smartest one of our team for this weekend, as she had decided to stay home due to the rough weather.

When we got to the land, Todd was already set up. The only problem was that his blind was soaked and being blown flat on the ground by the strong winds. Another falconer, Dave Floria from Ohio, was also there. He had obtained a non-resident hawk-trapping permit and was hoping to get a bird this year. We took Larry and Liz up for a tour of our blind and banding site. The wind and rain were howling out of the East-north-east at 25 to 30 mph with gusts up to 50 mph. The inside of the blind was sopping wet, as there is no glass in the windows, and the rain was blowing straight into it. Rick was the first to see the futility of trying to trap in that mess, so he took off for home. Chuck said he had brought along some reading material and would wait it out for a while. It seemed such a shame that Larry and Liz had come all the way from Chicago only to be rained out. I always tell people who are coming up to visit us that they should have an alternate plan to see other sites around Duluth, in case something prevents us from banding that weekend.

This weekend was also the 20th consecutive year that Mattie Lasch, President of the Minnesota Falconers Association, and his Dad, Glenn, have been coming up to our blind. This year his Dad could not make it so Mattie came up on his own. He was disappointed that we were not able to do any banding this weekend, but he did bring up a very special gift for me. Mattie was only eight years old when they started coming up to my blind and to commemorate this 20th year, he put together a photo book covering all the years he has been coming up, including his early drawings and class projects. There was not a dry eye in the trailer when we looked it over and read the accompanying verse, written by Mattie. The text is as follows;

Autumn Annual

Heading up north to trap along the shore,

  Thousands of raptors circle and soar.

Frank is in his blind with pigeons set,

  Luring passing migrants into the net.

The experience is shared between young and old,

  Eyes pressed to binoculars while stories are told.

People filter in, they populate the blind,

  Not enough sausage, but Frank doesn't mind.

Floofy bush, new house, flat top, road pine,

  Migrating birds dot the skyline.

Going away, going away, coming around now,

  A flutter of wings and it hits the net, pow!

Seconds turn to minutes, optimistic anticipation,

  Held breaths give way to yelps of celebration.

 Everyone lines up; assume a photo stance,

  Who gets to release; it's left up to chance.

Banded, documented, raptors sent away,

  As much about research as it is a form of play.

Even after 20 years each weekend feels new,

  Fall trapping is a blast, all thanks to you!

Mattie drove back to Duluth to spend the weekend at his friend's place. Thank You! Mattie, for such a thoughtful gift.

Chuck, Todd, Marc and Dave took refuge in my brother Mike's trailer while Larry, Liz and I took a wet and windy birding walk up the Sucker River. After a "nice" walk in the rain, Marc joined us and we all drove up to Two Harbors. I thought we might be able to show Liz a Merlin as they sometimes hunt out in front of the train depot. We saw some deer but they were hunkered down on the leeward side of the bushes and we did see one brave adult Bald eagle flying out over the ore docks. We walked near the lighthouse to see huge waves crashing over the jetty and took some photos. At noon we had lunch at Judy's restaurant and went back out to our land. We saw one little wet and bedraggled Kestrel out on the road near our campsite. Every time the Kestrel tried to fly up to sit on the pole or wire, the wind caused it to give up and settle back down on the road. Trudi and Jackie arrived just after we got back, so we sat around visiting in Mike's trailer deciding what our next move would be.

Todd packed up his wet gear and headed home. Chuck and Dave said they would hang around long enough to have supper with us. Chuck, Dave, Larry, Liz, Marc, Jackie, Trudi and I did our customary "Wish Bird" pose at our campsite and loaded into our cars to drive down to Stoney Point to have a look at the breaking waves. The wind was blowing so hard at the Point that the trees with shallow root systems were toppling over. The local surfers "got wind" of the big waves and had also made the trip out to Stoney Point. We took a few photos of the surfers as the light was fading and then got back in our cars and drove over to the restaurant in Knife River.

Things were nice, dry and cozy at Emily's Light House Restaurant, a welcome change from the day spent out in gale force winds. Before I sat down to order my 57th hot meatloaf sandwich with fried onions, mushrooms and an extra bowl of gravy, I presented the owners with one of my photos that I had enlarged and framed. It is of the tall ship Lynx coming into Duluth Harbor and appropriately enough, has a lighthouse in it. We all enjoyed our hot meal at the Lighthouse and took off for our respective lodgings. Needless to say, there was no campfire that night. In fact, Trudi and I were kept awake most of the night by the wind screaming through the trees and rain pouring down on our little trailer's roof. Through it all, the old Dodge-My-Haul kept us safe, dry and warm.

Sunday morning, Trudi and I went back out to see the surfers on Stoney Point before meeting Larry and Liz at the Perkins restaurant in Duluth for breakfast. That morning our blind was still so soaked that we had decided not to try banding at all, because the weather was still uncertain. Instead, we all drove up to Hawk Ridge to see if any hawks were migrating there.

Several groups were already up on the ridge, including Bill Teft from Ely with his group of 20, and Bill Clark, who was teaching a raptor I.D. class. Bill Teft and his group had stopped by our blind that morning but we had already left for the weekend. There were a few birds moving over the ridge, including red-tails, shins, eagles, and a some vultures. My good friends Dr. Joan Schnable and Emily Johnson were also there. Andrew Longtin and Cory Allen were up in the "bird's nest" doing the counting for the day. Erik Bruhnke was the on-site naturalist, pointing out the hawks moving overhead and all the song-birds milling about on the ground. Erik is incredibly knowledgeable and his explanations are very entertaining. I also had the good fortune to meet Karen Stubenvoll who is the President of the Board of Directors for Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory. We were able to see a couple of hawk releases, including a young lady releasing a shin and an adult Cooper's hawk released by Bill Huseth. Trudi and I headed for home around 1:00 pm and found out later that Liz had been able to release a Sharp-shinned hawk before the day ended.

Grand Total for the year is still 94.

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)

Keep your eyes on the skies.

Frank & Trudi Taylor

01. Photo book that Mattie gave me. Photo on cover is of Mattie's first trip up to our blind when he was only eight years old.

Sixth Weekend 2013.

02. When Duluth had the big floods last year, it also washed out the part of our road that connects with Berquist Road. The county sent us a letter stating that they are not going to rebuild the bridge.

Sixth Weekend 2013.

03. The Sucker River plugged up the old culvert with trees and boulders and then cut a new route around it.

Sixth Weekend 2013.

04. Looking northwest up the Sucker River.

Sixth Weekend 2013.

05. The plugged-up culvert.

Sixth Weekend 2013.

06. Deer at Two Harbors sheltering from the wind and rain on the leeward side of the brush.

Sixth Weekend 2013.

07. Feeding and resting seemed the most appropriate thing to do while waiting out the storm.

Sixth Weekend 2013.

08. Relax and stay dry, if you can.

Sixth Weekend 2013.

09. Waves pounding the Two Harbors jetty.

Sixth Weekend 2013.

10. More waves pounding the Two Harbors jetty.

Sixth Weekend 2013.

11. Anyone want to take a walk out to the end? Bring a life-jacket!

Sixth Weekend 2013.

12. The wind was blowing so hard this Kestrel on the side of our hayfield could not perch on poles or wires. It just sat in the middle of the rain-soaked road.

Sixth Weekend 2013.

13. Larry, Liz, Chuck, Trudi, Dave, Jackie and Marc doing a "Wish Bird" sign.

Sixth Weekend 2013.

14. Marc, Chuck, Dave, Jackie and Trudi watching the waves hammer the shore out on Stoney Point.

Sixth Weekend 2013.

15. Waves hitting the rocks at Stoney Point.

Sixth Weekend 2013.

16. Water blowing high into the air at Stoney Point.

Sixth Weekend 2013.

17. Big spray from the pounding waves at Stoney Point.

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18. Getting the rocks nice and clean.

Sixth Weekend 2013.

19. Waves hitting the rocks at Stoney Point.

Sixth Weekend 2013.

20. More waves hitting the rocks at Stoney Point.    

Sixth Weekend 2013.

21. Trees with shallow root systems toppled.

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22. Trudi showing scale of more toppled trees.

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23. The storm brought surfers out to Stoney Point, where rocks can be a hazard.

Sixth Weekend 2013.

24. Just missed it.

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25. Catching one as she breaks.

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26. Riding the soup.

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27. Just-a-gliding along.

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28. Cozy and warm with friends at Emily's Lighthouse Restaurant.

Jackie, Marc, Trudi, Chuck, Liz, Dave and Larry.

Sixth Weekend 2013.

29. Presenting my photo of a tall ship and lighthouse to the owners of Emily's Lighthouse Restaurant.

Sixth Weekend 2013.

30. Copy of the photo I gave to the restaurant of the tall ship Lynx sailing into Duluth harbor.

Sixth Weekend 2013.

31. Sunday morning surfers came out again to play in the huge waves generated by the storm.

Sixth Weekend 2013.

32. Surfing Superior.

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33. In the soup.

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34. Shooting the curl.

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35. Riding the crest.

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36. Trudi and Larry Miller at Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory.

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37. Bill Teft and his group from Ely at Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory.

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38. Bill Clark conducing a class at Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory.

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39. Erik Bruhnke, Karen Stubenvoll and me up on Hawk Ridge.

Sixth Weekend 2013.

40. Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory volunteer giving a talk about a Cooper's hawk to the visitors.

Sixth Weekend 2013.

41. Showing Bill how to hold the Cooper's hawk for release.

Sixth Weekend 2013.

42. Bill Huseth releasing the Cooper's hawk.

Sixth Weekend 2013.