Second Weekend of Banding 2014

September 6, 2014

Hi All,

Here it is, my second report of the 2014-banding season covering the weekend of September 6th, 2014.

Saturday morning, September 6th, Chuck met Trudi and me at Hawk Harbor around 10:00 am. Todd, Nancy and Rick had commitments at home and couldn't be there for the weekend. My brother Mike and Greg Mikkelson were there to greet us and begin the weekend.

After some maintenance work at Hawk Harbor on the trailers and some repairs (including a new door) on the main blind, we set up and began trapping at 11:15 am with medium Northwest winds. While there were birds moving, our first contacts were three bounce-outs: a young male Gos who swooped in from the North at 11:33; a young female shin who appeared from straight up in the trees above the lure and hit the back of the front net at 12:10; and a young female Cooper’s hawk came in and sat in the tree above us. She let me take movies and photos of her and then she made a shot at the lure, but bounced out of the front net at 12:45 pm.

At 1:37 pm we banded our first bird of the day, a young female shin. At 3:07, another young female shin came in on a long stoop from high over the pines. After a perfect late-summer day, in spite of the challenge of separating out the hawks from the thousands of dragonflies circling the field, the last hawk of the day to be banded was a Merlin who came in at 4:05 pm after chasing a Kestrel down the draw. We shut down at 6:00 pm. Chuck, Trudi, Mike, Greg and I drove over to Emily's Lighthouse Restaurant for supper. I looked long and hard at the menu and decided I would try, . . . (wait for it) . . . another hot meatloaf sandwich with fried onions, mushrooms and an extra bowl of gravy. That would be the 63rd time I ordered that wonderful dish, for those of you who are counting.

We got a total of 3 birds and 3 bounce-outs on Saturday.

2 Sharp-shinned hawks and 1 Merlin.

Sunday morning was spectacular, bright and clear, with medium Southwest winds. Greg took off for his banding site up the road and Chuck, Trudi and I set up and were ready to begin banding at 7:15 am. The avian activity in the field out in front of us was incredible  – with Merlins chasing Blue Jays, shins and Ravens swooping by, Broad-winged hawks getting up and a couple Red-tailed hawks coming by to take a look. We were trying to keep up with all the activity when our first bird of the day, a young male Merlin, surprised us at 7:23 while we were concentrating on a shin we thought was coming in.

After enjoying a visiting Magpie, the next three birds that were caught all came into the back of the front net. We speculated that the bright sun made the nets quite visible for birds coming up the field, but these nervy shins were not to be deterred. The first, at 7:50, was a young male. The next two, coming into the nets at 8:18 and 9:15 respectively, were both young females.

Our only bounce-out of the day was another young female shin at 10:04 who came barreling down from the North. At 10:12, another young female shin hit the nets while we were watching out over the barn, and at 10:26, a young female Cooper's hawk came in from out in front. Marc and Jackie Rude stopped by about noon, and as soon as Marc got settled into the blind, we got our last bird of the day, a young female Merlin at 12:47. Chuck and Marc had to leave soon thereafter. Trudi and I stayed on but nothing else came in that day. We shut down the blind at 4:00 pm and Mike came up to help us finish some repairs on the blind and make a few modifications on net pole placement to hopefully foil some potential bounce-outs.

We came back to Hawk Harbor to discover that Mike had completed a major overhaul of the fire-pit. It looks amazing! Thanks, Mike! After Trudi, Mike and I went in to Two Harbors for a sandwich at Culver’s, we came back to try out the new and greatly improved fire-pit, appreciate the almost full Harvest moon and enjoy the perfect, cool, sleeping weather.

We got a total of 7 birds and 1 bounce-out on Sunday.

2 Merlins, 4 Sharp-shinned hawks, and 1 Cooper’s hawk.

Monday: another stunning day with bright blue skies. Mike took off to get back to work in the cities by noon. We stayed and worked on the new trailer, fixing drawer handles and adding cedar planks to the closets, while we waited for Duluth Dirt to deliver some class-5 gravel. We headed home around 3 pm. Looking forward to returning next weekend!

Total for the weekend was 10 birds and 4 bounce-outs.

3 Merlins, 6 Sharp-shinned hawks and 1 Cooper's hawk.

Grand Total for the year is 13.

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. Young Cooper's hawk came in for a look.

Second Weekend 2014.

02. First bird of the day, a young female Sharp-shinned hawk.

Second Weekend 2014.

03. Banding the shin.

Second Weekend 2014.

04. A young female Sharp-shinned hawk.

Second Weekend 2014.

05. Trudi releasing the shin.

Second Weekend 2014.

06. A young female Merlin.

Second Weekend 2014.

07. Banding the Merlin.

Second Weekend 2014.

08. Our first Merlin of the year.

Second Weekend 2014.

09. A young female Merlin.

Second Weekend 2014.

10. Greg, Mike, Chuck and Trudi relaxing after supper, back at the campfire.

(Is something watching them from the far right?)

Second Weekend 2014.

11. "Profile" pose of a young male Merlin.

Our first bird on Sunday.

Second Weekend 2014.

12. Banding the Merlin.

Second Weekend 2014.

13. A young male Merlin.

Second Weekend 2014.

14. Young Sharp-shinned hawk doing the "Coming In" pose.

Second Weekend 2014.

15. Trudi and Chuck holding the shin.

Second Weekend 2014.

16. Size comparison of young male Merlin and Sharp-shinned hawk.

Second Weekend 2014.

17. Chuck releasing the Merlin.

Second Weekend 2014.

18. A Young Sharp-shinned hawk doing the "Profile" pose.

Second Weekend 2014.

19. Trudi releasing the Sharp-shinned hawk.

Second Weekend 2014.

20. Young male Sharp-shinned hawk with an iris fleck in its eye.

Second Weekend 2014.

21. Chuck doing the luring and holding a Sharp-shinned hawk.

Second Weekend 2014.

22. Trudi holding another one of the shins we caught.

Second Weekend 2014.

23. Me, releasing a Sharp-shinned hawk.

Second Weekend 2014.

24. Young female Cooper's hawk doing the "Coming In" pose.

Second Weekend 2014. 

25. Me, banding the Cooper's hawk.

Second Weekend 2014. 

26. Young female Cooper's hawk doing the "Are You Lookin' at Me?" pose.

Second Weekend 2014. 

27. "Profile" pose of a young Cooper's hawk.

Second Weekend 2014. 

28. Second Merlin on Sunday, a young female.

Second Weekend 2014. 

29. Me, banding the Merlin.

Second Weekend 2014. 

30. Chuck and Marc holding the Merlin.

Second Weekend 2014. 

31. Marc releasing the Merlin.

Second Weekend 2014. 

32. The new and bigger fire-pit, built by my brother Mike.

Second Weekend 2014. 

33. Mike enjoying the new fire-pit he built.

Second Weekend 2014. 

34. Big truck delivering some class-5 gravel to Hawk Harbor.

Second Weekend 2014.