Eighth Weekend of Banding 2014

October 18, 2014

Hi All,

Here is my eighth report of the 2014 banding season, covering the weekend of October 18, 2014.

Rick and Chuck met Trudi and me at the Spirit Mountain McDonalds around 8:00 Saturday morning. Nancy had commitments at home this weekend, so the rest of us had a little breakfast and headed up to Hawk Harbor. Todd and his wife Jenny came up on Friday with their friends Mike and Becky Skouge. Todd had set up the night before so he was ready to go when we got there. We loaded up our gear in the old trapping van, drove to the blind, and were ready to start by 9:45. Skies were clear with a very light Northwest wind. A few shins were moving and a couple Northern Harriers were working the field. We had just started looking for hawks when Pam Basset came walking up to the blind with her son Geno and his son Peter. Pam is part of our banding team and was responsible for getting all my data submitted to the Bird Banding Laboratory for many years. I always had problems trying to submit my data on a Mac, so Pam would redo everything in PC format and then resubmit it to the lab. A little later Mavis Magnuson pulled up with her nephew Larry. Mavis was responsible for shipping all our education raptors through Northwest Airlines when I was Curator of Education Birds at The Raptor Center years ago. She has been coming up to see us for over fifteen years. This time she brought us some very nice gifts, fleece blankets with pictures of Bald Eagles on them. A very practical gift, considering the falling temperatures this late in the season. Thank You, Mavis.

A few birds were moving here and there all day. We saw some Sharp-shins, Red-tails, Bald Eagles, Rough-legs and Harriers. However, they were all very savvy adults or birds that were not interested in us. So there we sat for hours and hours with not even a bounce-out. We did see the coyote come out to feed on the old gut pile. After a very long day of staring at an empty sky, we closed down at 4:30. Our second Skunked Day of the season!

Mavis, Larry, Pam, Geno and Peter headed home while Trudi, Chuck, Rick and I met Jenny, Todd, Becky and Mike over at Emily's Lighthouse restaurant for supper. I ordered my 70th hot meatloaf sandwich with fried onions, mushrooms and an extra bowl of gravy, and so did Trudi and Becky. When the bill came, the owners had given me my 70th sandwich for FREE! Thank You, Ladies, Very Much!!! After that we went back to Hawk Harbor and sat around a wonderful campfire. Thanks to Mike for bringing up the firewood and to Greg Wallgren for bringing up some more kindling wood.

We got a total of 0 birds and no bounce-outs on Saturday.

A Skunked Day!

On Sunday morning the skies were cloudy and the wind was very light out of the Southwest. We went back up to the blind and were ready to go at 8:15. A little while later Jenny brought Mike up to see our set up. After Jenny headed back down to Todd's site, Katy Shimiza came up. Katy was supposed to come up last weekend with Brynn and Holly, but she wasn't feeling well.

Things were looking pretty slow that morning as well. We thought we might get a repeat of yesterday, when at 10:23 a young male Merlin popped up at the end of the draw. It saw us right away and put on a burst of speed toward the net. Just at the last instant, when we were sure it would get caught, it veered off to the North. Arrggh!! It was about to go speeding off down the draw when it looked back over its shoulder, saw the lure, changed its mind, turned and came right in. Whoooopy Ding Ding!!! We got one! We banded it and took a lot of photos. Because this was Mike's first time to see a hawk get caught, we decided to have him release it. At 11:17 we spotted a low flying shin that looked like it was hunting. It saw the lure and made a nice long glide in from way out in front. We thought it would be a "sure thing" but the adult male shin hit the net high and bounced out. As the day was going so slow, we decided to close down at noon.

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

1 Merlin.

Grand Total for the year is 188.

After we said good-by to all our friends and closed down Hawk Harbor, Trudi and I decided to stop off at Crex Meadows on our way home. We had never been there before and we had heard that thousands of migrating Sandhill Cranes were coming in there to roost in the evenings. We got to the visitor center around 4:00 and met a volunteer who gave us a map and pointed out just where to park to get the best view. He said the cranes would start coming in around 5:00. We drove out to where he said we should park and waited. Other birders started arriving at the same place and time so I figured we must be in the right place. We saw a few swans and a pair of Bald Eagles out on an Osprey tower. A few early arrival Sandhill cranes had already landed out on the flats. Just as he had predicted, rows and rows of Sandhill Cranes started coming over us to land just North of where we were parked. Thousands of cranes came in right over us! I love the loud call they make and the sound of their wings cutting through the air. What a way to finish the day!

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. Saturday morning crew from left to right:

Rick, Geno, Pam, Peter, Mavis, Larry, Chuck and Trudi.

Eighth Weekend 2014.

02. Searching for hawks on a slow day.

Eighth Weekend 2014.

03. Searching for hawks, harder, on a slow day.

Eighth Weekend 2014.

04. The fake owl is the only thing close by.

Eighth Weekend 2014.

05. Oh look!!! The coyote is eating at the gut pile.

Eighth Weekend 2014.

06. Uh oh, looks like we have to do the "Wish Bird" sign today.

Eighth Weekend 2014.

07. Mike, Chuck, Becky, Todd, Jenny, Rick and Trudi having supper at Emily's Lighthouse restaurant.

Eighth Weekend 2014.

08. Sunday morning, not much moving today either.

Eighth Weekend 2014.

09. Watching a ship go by the barn.

Eighth Weekend 2014.

10. Sunday morning crew left to right:

Rick, Trudi, Katy, Mike, Becky, Chuck, Jenny and Todd.

Eighth Weekend 2014.

11. A young male Merlin, our one and only bird of the weekend doing the "Coming In" pose.

Eighth Weekend 2014. 

12. Chuck and Rick taking the Merlin out of the net while Mike and Katy watch.

Eighth Weekend 2014.

13. Chuck banding the Merlin.

Eighth Weekend 2014.

14. Young male Merlin doing the "Profile" pose.

Eighth Weekend 2014.

15. Merlin trying to look like a "Pigeon Hawk".

Eighth Weekend 2014.

16. Rick, Mike, Chuck and Katy holding the Merlin.

Eighth Weekend 2014.

17. Katy holding the Merlin.

Eighth Weekend 2014.

18. Young male Merlin doing the "Are You Looking at Me?" pose.

Eighth Weekend 2014.

19. Mike holding the Merlin.

Eighth Weekend 2014.

20. Mike getting ready to release the Merlin.

Eighth Weekend 2014.

21. Katy and Mike releasing the Merlin.

Eighth Weekend 2014. 

22. Trudi and I stopped by Crex Meadows on the way home.

Eighth Weekend 2014. 

23. Birders were pulling up and picking out the best places to watch the Sandhill Cranes come in to roost for the night.

Photo by Trudi.

Eighth Weekend 2014. 

24. A swan with band number "21P" feeding out in front of us.

Eighth Weekend 2014. 

25. A Pied-billed Grebe swam right up to us.

Eighth Weekend 2014. 

26. Two Bald Eagles took charge of the seating arrangements:

"Canadas, over here, Swans, over there, Sandhills, anywhere you want, Grebes, stay out of the way".

Eighth Weekend 2014. 

27. Here come the Sandhill Cranes.

Photo by Trudi.

Eighth Weekend 2014. 

28. We picked a good spot right by the floodgate.

Photo by Trudi.

Eighth Weekend 2014. 

29. More and more Sandhill Cranes started pouring in.

Photo by Trudi.

Eighth Weekend 2014. 

30. Making lots of noise as they passed overhead.

Photo by Trudi.

Eighth Weekend 2014. 

31. Looking for a good spot to land.

Photo by Trudi.

Eighth Weekend 2014. 

32. This place looks pretty good.

Photo by Trudi.

Eighth Weekend 2014.

33. Everyone talking really loud, catching up on all the migration gossip.

Photo by Trudi.

Eighth Weekend 2014.

34. At sunset they were still coming in.

Photo by Trudi.

Eighth Weekend 2014.

35. More coming in on the last light of the day.

Photo by Trudi.

Eighth Weekend 2014. 

36. What a great way to finish the weekend at Crex Meadows with Trudi and thousands of Sandhill Cranes.

Photo by Trudi.

Eighth Weekend 2014.