Sixth Weekend of Banding 2014

October 2, 2014

Hi All,

Here is my sixth report of the 2014 banding season, covering the weekend of October 2, 2014.

On Thursday morning, I got to the Spirit Mountain McDonalds near Duluth just in time to meet Nancy and Chuck. Trudi had commitments at home this weekend and Rick said he would come up on Saturday. Todd planned to arrive Friday night. A little while later, my good friends Larry Miller and Liz Copeland from Chicago joined us. We had a little breakfast and headed up to Hawk Harbor. Larry is a long time falconry friend (read 40 years) and Liz is a Master Naturalist from the Chicago area. Larry brought Liz up last year and the weather was so bad, we didn't even set up the nets at all that weekend. Things were looking about the same for this weekend but the rain was not supposed to arrive until later that day. The wind was also supposed to switch around and blow hard out of the Northwest for the next couple of days. We got the nets set up at the blind and started trapping at 10:30. Skies were cloudy with no wind. Not much was moving; even the songbirds were laying low in anticipation of the big blow to come that evening. We had only one shin come in and pass high over the nets that morning. At 2:45 an adult male Sharp-shin came in, hit the front net and bounced out. One other shin came by that day, but again, it passed high over the nets. Around 4:00 it started to drizzle, so we closed down for the day. Chuck and Nancy headed off to have dinner with some friends from Knife River. Liz, Larry and I went over to Emily's Lighthouse restaurant where Liz and I both ordered hot meatloaf sandwiches with fried onions, mushrooms and extra bowls of gravy. That was my 67th hot meatloaf sandwich! It was raining and blowing hard by the time we finished supper, so everyone retreated to their accommodations for the night.

We got a total of 0 birds and 1 bounce-out on Thursday.

Skunked Day.

On Friday morning lots of birds were moving. It was cloudy and threatening, but the rain held off. Winds were hard out of the Northwest. We had everything ready to go at 9:00. Our first bird of the weekend hit the net at 9:06, an adult male Cooper's hawk. Following that we caught two shins and at 9:44 we caught an adult female Northern Harrier. One more shin came in and then a shin bounced out. Around 11:00, Chris Remmenga, a falconer from Nebraska, stopped in to see us. He had a non-resident hawk-trapping permit and was going to meet Greg Mikkelson later that day to trap up at Greg's place. We caught three more shin and then at 12:35 an adult Red-tailed hawk sailed in and landed in the tree above us. It sat for a minute and then dove straight down, missed the lure and hit the back of the front net, but bounced out. We caught one more shin that day and closed down at 4:00. Todd had arrived, so Chris went down to Hawk Harbor to fix supper with him. Nancy and Chuck went back over to their friends' place while Liz, Larry and I headed up to the Culvers in Two Harbors for supper. Later that evening it was too wet to have a campfire and a bunch of falconers came up to camp at Hawk Harbor. We all decided it was a bit too wet for tents so Greg, Bobbi, Tina, Amanda, Chris, Todd and I all loaded into various trailers and campers and had dry places to sleep for the night.

We got a total of 9 birds and 2 bounce-outs on Friday.

7 Sharp-shinned hawks, 1 Cooper's hawk and 1 Northern Harrier.

Saturday morning, the Northwest winds were blowing hard and the rain was stopping. Chuck and I went up to the blind where Rick met us. Nancy headed home that morning. We were set up and ready to go at 8:30. Todd set up down on our land and all the other falconers headed to Greg's trapping site farther up the shore. About five minutes after we started, a Northern Harrier tried racing a shin to the lure. The shin pulled up and the harrier hit the net. Our first bird of the day at 8:36, a young Northern Harrier! Two harriers in one weekend!!! Raptors and songbirds started moving by in huge numbers. Liz and Larry had gone off to Sax-Zim Bog to go birding that morning. Around 9:00 Kris and Troy Holkestad stopped in. Troy is the son of my great friend, artist, falconer and bird bander Ken Holkestad who passed away recently. A little later Greg Wallgren from Duluth came up and then Liz and Larry returned from the bog.  We caught nine Sharp-shinned hawks before getting an adult female Cooper's hawk, our second of the weekend, at 2:05. We caught five more shins before closing down at 5:45. Liz and Larry went for supper in Duluth; Greg, Kris and Troy headed home; and Todd fixed his supper down at Hawk Harbor. Chuck, Rick and I headed over to Emily's Lighthouse restaurant to meet Greg and all the falconers for supper. I ordered my second of the weekend, but 68th over all, hot meatloaf sandwich with fried onions, mushrooms and an extra bowl of gravy. When we got back to Hawk Harbor, Kenny Wagner was there. All the falconers came back as well to enjoy the campfire and nice dry beds.

We got a total of 16 birds and 0 bounce-outs on Saturday.

14 Sharp-shinned hawks, 1 Cooper's hawk and 1 Northern Harrier.

On Sunday morning the skies were partly cloudy and the wind was light out of the West. We set up the nets and were ready to start at 8:00. Greg Mikkelson and the falconers all headed back up to his place to trap. Liz and Larry came back up to the blind around 8:30, and Kenny came up around 9:00. We caught our first bird of the day, an adult female Sharp-shinned hawk, at 10:25. After that, Liz and Larry said their goodbyes and headed back for Chicago around 10:30. Kenny stayed with us for the rest of the day. We caught four more shins before one bounced out at 11:45. We caught another shin and then saw a big accipiter heading for us from the North. A young female Northern Goshawk stooped in but hit the back net near the post and bounced out at 11:50. Chuck left for home at noon. We caught ten more shins before closing down for the weekend at 2:30.

We got a total of 16 birds and 2 bounce-outs on Sunday.

16 Sharp-shinned hawks.

Grand Total for the year is 173.

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. Friday morning we got an adult male Cooper's hawk.

Sixth Weekend 2014.

02. Young male Sharp-shinned hawk.

Sixth Weekend 2014.

03. Larry, Chuck, Nancy and Liz holding Cooper's hawk and shins.

Sixth Weekend 2014.

04. Adult male Cooper's hawk.

Sixth Weekend 2014.

05. Larry and Liz holding Cooper's hawk and shins.

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06. Young female Sharp-shinned hawk.

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07. Liz letting a shin go.

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08. Liz holding the Cooper's hawk.

Sixth Weekend 2014.

09. Liz releasing the Cooper's hawk.

Sixth Weekend 2014.

10. Adult female Northern Harrier.

Sixth Weekend 2014.

11. Banding the harrier.

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12. Harrier doing the "Are You Looking at Me?" pose.

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13. Harrier showing molting tail feathers.

Sixth Weekend 2014.

14. Larry, Liz and I holding the Harrier.

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15. Liz releasing the Harrier.

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16. Adult female Northern Harrier.

Sixth Weekend 2014.

17. Frank and Chris with a Sharp-shinned hawk.

Sixth Weekend 2014.

18. Chris about to release the shin.

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19. Chris releasing the shin.

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20. Sharp-shinned hawk doing the "Are You Looking at Me?" pose.

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21. Liz about to release a shin.

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22. Liz releasing the shin.

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23. Our second Northern Harrier of the weekend on Sunday morning.

Sixth Weekend 2014. 

24. Rick and Chuck taking the Harrier out of the net.

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25. Chuck banding the Northern Harrier.

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26. Rick releasing the Harrier.

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27. Adult female Sharp-shinned hawk doing the "Hollywood" pose.

Sixth Weekend 2014. 

28. Kris, me and Troy holding a Sharp-shinned hawk.

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29. Old female Sharp-shinned hawk.

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30. Kris and Troy holding a Sharp-shinned hawk.

Sixth Weekend 2014. 

31. Kris and Troy releasing the shin.

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32. Sharp-shinned hawk with a mark on its iris.

Sixth Weekend 2014.

33. Greg holding the shin.

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34. Greg releasing a shin.

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35. Adult female Sharp-shinned hawk.

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36. Liz admiring the shin.

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37. Adult female Cooper's hawk.

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38. Chuck showing the Cooper's hawk to the group.

Sixth Weekend 2014.

39. Cooper's hawk doing a "Dropping In" pose.

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40. Larry and Liz holding the Cooper's hawk.

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41. Larry and Liz releasing the Cooper's hawk.

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42. Chuck, Bobbi, Tina, Jack, Amanda, Greg, Chris, Ben and Rick (in foreground) having supper at Emily's Lighthouse restaurant.

Sixth Weekend 2014.

43. Liz, Larry and Kenny up at the blind on Sunday morning.

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44. Adult female Sharp-shinned hawk.

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45. Kenny holding the Sharp-shinned hawk.

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46. Kenny releasing a Sharp-shinned hawk.

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47. Adult Sharp-shinned hawk doing the "Profile" pose.

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48. Rick, Kenny and Chuck holding Sharp-shinned hawks.

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49. Rick, Kenny and Chuck doing a triple release.

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50. A Sharp-shinned hawk doing the "Yearbook" pose.

Sixth Weekend 2014.