Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Third Weekend of Banding 2014

September 13, 2014

Hi All,

Here is my third report of the 2014 banding season, covering the weekend of September 13, 2014.
What a weekend! We broke our "All Time" record of hawks trapped in one day on Sunday!!

Saturday morning, September 13, Trudi and I met Rick, Nancy and Chuck at the Spirit Mountain McDonalds at 7:30 am for a quick breakfast. Todd was already at Hawk Harbor to greet us when we arrived. We packed our gear into the old white van and headed up to the main blind, set up, and began trapping at 9:45 am. Skies were clear with almost no wind. The first three birds to come in were young shins, a female at 10:13, a male at 10:15 (both in the back net) and another female at 10:30 (into the front net). At 10:35, Professor Bill Tefft brought 14 Ely Field Naturalists up to the blind to join us, and three people in his group got to release a shin. We are always glad to welcome Bill’s group each year from Ely. They have been coming up to see us for 9 years now. They left just after noon to visit Hawk Ridge.  

The next three birds were young Merlins, at 1:33 (female), 1:34 (male from Todd), and 1:52 (female) with winds picking up slightly out of the West-southwest. One of the Merlins had had an altercation with something that pulled out a bunch of its primaries and tail-feathers. By the looks of the new growth, I would say it must have happened about a month ago. Duluth friends Jen Harner and Walter Sipila came up to see us at around 2:00 and later, Karin and Jeff Stedman came by. They were all there for the last two hawks of the day, both young female shins at 3:20 and 4:32 respectively. The first bird of the day and the last two came in with full crops. We shut down at 5:30 pm.

Todd stayed at Hawk Harbor to fix dinner with his daughter Jessie and her friend Matt who had come up to help Todd and camp out at our place. Karin and Jeff headed home and Chuck, Nancy, Jen, Walter, Trudi and I took Rick out for a birthday dinner at Emily’s Lighthouse restaurant. I will not turn 65 years old until September 27th, so I was able to order my "Golden Meatloaf Sandwich" (that would be my 64th hot meatloaf sandwich while I am still 64 years old), with fried onions, mushrooms and an extra bowl of gravy for supper that night. After dinner we went back to Hawk Harbor and sat around the new and enlarged campfire before retiring for the night.

We got a total of 8 birds and 0 bounce-outs on Saturday.
5 Sharp-shinned hawks and 3 Merlins.

Sunday morning we began trapping at 7:45 am with light Southwest winds and a clear sky. Our first bird at 8:37 am was a young male shin. This was the first of many birds to come in that day!

WE HAD AN "ALL-TIME" RECORD BREAKING DAY! 

So that I don’t end up with a five-page report, I will give you only the times and sex on each bird that came in or bounced out. All the birds that day (with the exception of one Merlin that bounced into and out of the nets twice at 2:50 and 2:51) were shins, and all but one adult female who came in at 10:12 were young birds. What a day!!!

At 8:37 while the male shin hit the front net, another one bounced out of the back net. At 8:45 a female bounced out, at 8:47 we got a male and at 8:55 we got another female.

9:40: STOP THE PRESSES! What’s that? A Pileated woodpecker in the back net? What a sight! What a hairdo!

We had just released the Pileated at 9:30 when we were joined by world-renowned author and photographer Stan Tekiela who brought up his group of 8 from the Staring Lake Nature Center in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. Good to see lots of returning friends in this group as they have been coming up for the last seven years! After a few years of rain-outs and no-bird days, it was a great pleasure to be able to have everyone in Stan's group get to release a hawk. A couple people in the group got to let two birds go. Even Stan got to release a bird this time. Check out his website at http://www.naturesmart.com if you want to get in on some of his entertaining and informative field trips.

Meanwhile, the shins just wouldn’t stop coming in. At 10:12 we got our only haggard female, at 10:25 another female, 11:15 a male bounced out, 11:22 we got a female, 11:45 another female, 11:55 a female, 12:00 a female, 12:08 a female, 12:12 a female, 12:30 a female, 12:53 a male, 1:03 a female bounced out, 1:05 we got a male, 1:12 a female bounced out, 1:14 the same shin came back in and bounced out again! 1:15 the same shin came back in for a third time!! This time we got her. At 1:25 we got a male, 1:40 another male, 1:45 a female, 2:02 a female, 2:15 a female and at 2:20 another female.

At 2:32 we saw a peregrine who, deciding we were too busy with shins, flew down the road South of us and did NOT come in.

At 2:42 WE GOT A DOUBLE, a male in the back net and a female in the front net. At 2:50 and 2:51 the only Merlin to come in that day hit twice and bounced out twice. At 2:58 we had a male shin that bounced out twice. At 2:59 we caught a male that was chased in by a female that we missed. At 3:04 a male bounced out and at 3:10 we got a male.

STILL WITH US???   Remember, all these birds had to be released while the others kept coming in!

At 3:18 we got a male, 3:30 another male, 3:40 a male, 3:47 a male, 3:50 a female bounced out and at the same time, a female came in and we got her, 3:55 another female, 4:03 a female, 4:08 a male, 4:18 a male, 4:29 a female bounced out, 4:42 a male bounced out, 4:43 we got a male, 4:45 another male, 4:48 a male, 4:58 a female bounced out, 5:07 another female bounced out and at 5:30 we got the last bird of the day, a young female Sharp-shinned hawk. We shut down at 5:35 pm and headed for home.  

A big THANK YOU to Nancy for getting all of this data recorded in the book.

We got a total of 38 birds and 16 bounce-outs on Sunday.
38 Sharp-shinned hawks and 1 Pileated woodpecker (which we didn't band and we don't count).

Grand Total for the year is 59.

Age and sex of all birds that bounce-out are obviously a "best guesstimate" by the closest witness and should not be considered hard data.

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. First bird of the weekend, a young female Sharp-shinned hawk.
Third Weekend 2014.


02. Meeting Bill's group down at the van and checking out passing hawks.
Third Weekend 2014.


03. Bill Tefft brought up his group, the Ely Field Naturalists.
Third Weekend 2014.


04. Showing them a shin we just caught.
Third Weekend 2014.


05. Showing Jasper how to hold the shin he is about to release.
Third Weekend 2014.


06. Jasper letting the shin go.
Third Weekend 2014.


07. Size comparison of young male and female Sharp-shinned hawks.
Third Weekend 2014.


08. Lots of "Grins with Shins" from left to right:
Gloria, Katheryn, Joanna (in stroller), Bill, Ami, Rebecca, Joseph, Chuck, Jasper, Karen, Gabriel, Jerritt, Frank, Anne, Abby, Sherry and Patrick.
Third Weekend 2014.


09. Gabriel getting ready to release a shin.
Third Weekend 2014.


10. Gabriel releasing the shin with great form.
Third Weekend 2014.


11. Trudi carrying Joanna down to the van.
Third Weekend 2014.


12. Back down at the van doing my little migration talk for the group.
Third Weekend 2014.


13. Handing out art prints, bookmarks and info sheets to the group.
Third Weekend 2014.


14. Young Merlin doing the "Coming In" pose.
Third Weekend 2014.


15. Todd bringing up a Merlin that he caught down at Hawk Harbor to be banded.
Third Weekend 2014.


16. "Profile Pose" of a young Merlin.
Third Weekend 2014.


17. Nancy holding a Merlin.
Third Weekend 2014.


18. Nancy comparing sizes of young male and female Merlins.
Third Weekend 2014.


19. Chuck, Nancy and Rick holding three Merlins.
Third Weekend 2014.


20. This Merlin was re-growing some of its primary feathers and all of its tail feathers.
Third Weekend 2014.


21. Chuck showing us the short primaries and tail feathers.
Makes you wonder what happened to this bird, probably about a month ago.
Third Weekend 2014.


22. Chuck banding the tail-less Merlin.
Third Weekend 2014.


23. Rick releasing one of the Merlins.
Third Weekend 2014.


24. Young female Sharp-shinned hawk doing the "Coming In" pose.
Third Weekend 2014. 


25. Walter and Jen holding a Sharp-shinned hawk.
Third Weekend 2014. 


26. Walter and Jen releasing the shin.
Third Weekend 2014. 


27. Young shin doing the "Yearbook" pose.
Third Weekend 2014. 


28. Jeff and Karin holding a shin.
Third Weekend 2014. 


29. Jeff and Karin releasing the shin.
Third Weekend 2014. 


30. Todd, Jesse and Matt at the campfire.
Third Weekend 2014. 


31. Nancy, Chuck, Walter, Rick (Birthday Boy), Jen and Trudi at The Lighthouse restaurant.
(With my "Golden" hot meatloaf sandwich.)
Third Weekend 2014. 


32. Chuck holding the Pileated woodpecker Sunday morning.
Third Weekend 2014. 


33. "Profile Pose" of a Pileated woodpecker.
Third Weekend 2014. 


34. Comparison of female young and adult Sharp-shinned hawks.
Third Weekend 2014. 


35. Stan Tekiela's Staring Lake Nature Center group with shins.
Left to right: Stan, Ingrid, Roberta, Ellis, Leah, Alyssa, Chris, Maria and Steve.
Third Weekend 2014.


36. Main blind overflow group looking for hawks.
Third Weekend 2014.


37. Chuck showing guests how we band the birds.
Third Weekend 2014.


38. Stan's group with banders.
Left to right: Stan, Ingrid, Nancy, Roberta, Ellis, Leah, Alyssa, Chuck, Chris, Maria, Steve, Trudi and Frank.
Third Weekend 2014. 


39. Roberta, Ellis, Alyssa, Chris and Maria with shins to release.
Third Weekend 2014. 


40. Leah holding a shin.
Third Weekend 2014.


41. Ingrid releasing a shin.
Third Weekend 2014.


42. Steve releasing a shin.
Third Weekend 2014.


43. Frank filming Ellis and Steve releasing their second shins of the day.
Third Weekend 2014.


44. Stan getting a "closer look" at the shin he is about to release.
Third Weekend 2014.


45. Stan releasing the shin.
Third Weekend 2014. 


46. Sunday, September 14, 2014, we broke our "All Time Record" for number of hawks banded in one day.
Our old record was 32 hawks banded in one day. Today we banded a total of 38, all Sharp-shinned hawks.
Third Weekend 2014.

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