Hi All,
Here is my fourth report
of the 2015 banding season, covering the weekend of September 26, 2015.
Early Saturday morning
Trudi and I had a foggy drive up to Duluth, with the last few miles having
almost 0 visibility. At 7:45 we met Rick, Chuck and Nancy at the McDonalds on
London Road, had a bite to eat and headed up to Hawk Harbor. Todd, his wife
Jenny, their daughter Jessie and her boyfriend Matt, along with Steve Zimba,
had come up on Friday and were just getting up when we got there. We loaded
Rick's pick-up truck and drove to the main blind. There was a heavy fog and no
wind when we got started at 9:30 am.
Todd caught our first
bird of the day, a young male Sharp-shinned hawk, at 9:45. Wheeew! We thought
with the foggy weather this was going to be a "skunked day" (meaning
no birds caught). Thank goodness there was one hungry shin in the field!
Stan Tekiela, the world
famous nature photographer and guidebook author, pulled up with a busload of
people at 10:00. After a little clowning around with Stan, 10 people in Stan's
group got my little migration talk before heading up to the blind. Stan has
been bringing a group up for over 10 years. At 11:32 we were out taking a group
picture with the one shin Todd caught earlier when another shin, this time a
young female, flew right past all of us and hit the net. We did a
"pick-the-number" game to select the people who would release those
birds, took some photos and did the releases. At 12:07 we were all out watching
a Peregrine falcon fly by when another shin, this time a young male, came in.
We did the number game again, took more photos and released the shin. I gave
everyone in the group a raptor identification sheet, bookmark and an art print
before they got back on the bus for Hawk Ridge.
I met Chris Thorson at
the last Game Fair in August and invited him to bring his family to see our
banding operation. He showed up around 1:30 with his wife Nancy, their son Kyle
and his friend Joanne Sathre. We saw some birds moving but nothing looked
interested. Just as I was explaining to them that banding was a lot like
fishing from the sky, a young female Sharp-shinned hawk came blasting out of
the woods, flew over the nets, turn around out in front and shot right back
into the front net. Kyle was chosen to release the shin. They stayed until 3:00
during which time we spotted two more peregrines going by. We closed down for
the day at 5:00 pm.
When we got back down to
Hawk Harbor, my brother Mike was there with my "newfound" brother
Jamie to do some sightseeing on the North shore. I say "newfound"
because I just found out that I had a 58 year-old brother in Kansas City last
fall. Trudi, my brothers Tony and Mike and I drove down to K.C. last spring to
meet Jamie for the first time. During this visit up to Minnesota, he was able
to meet our other two brothers Dan and Greg and our sister Marge for the first
time. So, Jamie, Mike, Rick, Chuck, Nancy, Trudi and I all headed over to
Emily's Lighthouse restaurant where I had my 75th hot meatloaf sandwich with
fried onions, mushrooms and an extra cup of gravy. Afterwards we went back to Hawk Harbor and had a nice campfire in the foggy night with friends.
We got a total of 4 birds
and 0 bounce-outs on Saturday.
4 Sharp-shinned hawks.
Sunday morning the fog
burned off early and we were set up and ready by 8:00 am. The wind was calm to
begin with but freshened from out of the Southwest. We got our first bird of
the day at 8:35, an adult male Sharp-shinned hawk. We banded it and took it
down for Jamie to release near the road, as the field was a bit muddy. It was a
great pleasure for me to see my brother Jamie, who is a retired police officer,
release that bird.
At 10:00 Bill Tefft
arrived with a busload of visitors from the Community College in Ely, Minnesota.
We did the migration talk and headed up to the blind. They sure picked the
right day to come up since birds started moving all over the place. Last
weekend we had eight people right out in front of the net and still caught a
shin. This weekend while I was explaining how the nets worked to 14 guests and
2 crewmembers, another gutsy little shin blew right past us and hit the net. Then,
two more did the same thing in front of 17 frozen people!!! (We shout
"Freeze!" when people are standing out in front when a bird is coming
in.) To make a long story longer, we caught 14 shins and two Merlins while they
were there! Everyone got to release a bird and we even hypnotized the last shin
we caught. I walked them back down to the bus and handed out my identification
sheets, bookmarks and art prints before they headed off for Hawk Ridge.
Right after Bill's group
left, we saw a Peregrine falcon circling off to the North and a little while
later another one came in and buzzed the lure a few times, but we didn't catch
it. We caught one more shin at 12:48 and Nancy let that one go. We were
planning on closing down at 2:00 when at 1:10, Nancy shouted that a peregrine
was coming low and fast from mid field! It didn't even try to turn as it
barreled into the front net! Wow!!! A big beautiful young Peregrine falcon!!!!!
Rick had joked earlier about catching one for me since Sunday was my 66th
birthday. We took a load of photos, banded it and I got to release it. What a
great birthday present!!!
We figured we couldn't do
any better than that, so we closed down at 1:30 with 18 birds for the day.
We got a total of 18
birds and 1 bounce-out on Sunday.
1 Peregrine falcon, 2
Merlins and 15 Sharp-shinned hawks.
Total for the weekend was 22 birds and 1 bounce-out.
1 Peregrine falcon, 2 Merlins and 19 Sharp-shinned hawks.
Grand Total for the year
is 107.
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.
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01. Frank and his Birthday Peregrine.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015
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02. Stan Tekiela and his group, pulling up in the bus.
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03. Stan looking for a BIG hawk.
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04. A BIG hawk found Stan.
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05. First bird of the foggy day, a young male
Sharp-shinned hawk.
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06. Stan's group watching Chuck and Rick take a hawk out
of the net.
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07. Victoria, Raisa, Stan, Lois, Dick, Frank, Steve,
Debbie, Byron, Melinda, Steve and Roberta, holding the shin.
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08. Frank showing the group a shin.
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09. Stan's group taking photos of the shin.
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10. The group watching Chuck band the shin.
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11. Chuck showing the group a shin.
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12. A young female Sharp-shinned hawk.
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13. Melinda about to release the shin.
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14. Melinda releasing the shin.
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15. Lois and Dick about to release a shin.
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16. Dick and Lois releasing the shin.
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17. Debbie about to release a shin.
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18. Debbie releasing the shin.
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19. Frank handing out art prints, identification sheets
and bookmarks.
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20. Stan, Frank and Trudi.
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21. Stan's group getting on the bus to go to Hawk Ridge.
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22. Frank and Chris in front of the blind.
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23. A young female Sharp-shinned hawk.
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24. Chuck and Rick taking a shin out of the net for the
Thorsen family.
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25. Chuck showing Kyle, Joanne, Nancy and Chris how we
band the shin.
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26. Kyle, Joanne, Chuck, Nancy, Chris and Rick, holding
the shin.
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27. Joanne and Kyle releasing the shin.
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28. Frank, Jamie, Trudi, Rick, Nancy and Chuck at Emily's
Lighthouse restaurant.
Frank's 75th hot meatloaf sandwich with fried onions,
mushrooms and an extra cup of gravy.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015
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29. Sunday morning sunrise photo by Trudi.
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30. Young male American kestrel in the tree above the
blind.
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31. First bird on Sunday, an adult male Sharp-shinned
hawk.
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32. Rick taking the shin out of the net.
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33. Frank, Jamie and Trudi with the shin.
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34. Frank and Jamie with the shin.
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35. Jamie holding the shin.
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36. Trudi and Jamie releasing the shin.
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37. Bill Tefft's group arriving by bus.
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38. Frank giving Bill's group a migration talk.
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39. An adult male Sharp-shinned hawk.
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40. Bill's group watching Rick and Chuck take a shin out
of the net.
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41. Young female Merlin.
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42. Rick and Chuck taking the Merlin out of the net.
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43. A young female Merlin.
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44. Frank showing Bill's group the Merlin.
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45. Young female Merlin.
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46. A young female Sharp-shinned hawk.
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47. Chuck showing the group how we band the shin.
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48. Trudi showing the group a shin.
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49. Brooks, Christa, Marian, Ellen, Bryan, Helen, Jay,
Frank, Mike, Carol, Cameron, Russ, Jodi, Bill and Terry holding 10 hawks and
falcons.
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50. Young female Merlin.
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51. Frank showing Brooks how to release the Merlin.
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52. Christa and Brooks releasing the Merlin.
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53. Cameron about to release a shin.
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54. Cameron releasing the shin.
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55. Carol with a shin (Sorry, I missed your release
shot).
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56. Mike about to release a shin.
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57. Mike releasing the shin.
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58. Jay about to release a shin.
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59. Jay releasing the shin.
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60. Helen about to release a shin.
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61. Helen releasing the shin.
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62. Bryan about to release a Merlin.
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63. Bryan releasing the Merlin.
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64. Ellen about to release a shin.
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65. Ellen releasing the shin.
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66. Marian about to release a shin.
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67. Marian releasing the shin.
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68. Christa about to release a shin.
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69. Christa releasing the shin.
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70. Jodi about to release a shin.
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71. Jodie releasing the shin.
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72. Russ about to release a shin.
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73. Russ releasing the shin.
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74. Terry about to release a shin.
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75. Terry releasing the shin.
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76. Bill about to release a shin.
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77. Bill releasing the shin.
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78. Frank showing the group how to hypnotize a shin.
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79. Showing the group my artwork.
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80. Handing out art prints to the group before they
leave.
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81. Young female Sharp-shinned hawk.
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82. Chuck and Nancy about to release the Sharp-shinned
hawk.
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83. Chuck and Nancy releasing the shin.
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84. Young female Peregrine falcon coming in.
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85. Young female Peregrine falcon.
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86. Rick and Chuck taking the peregrine out of the net.
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87. Young female Peregrine falcon.
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88. Young female Peregrine falcon.
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89. Rick, Chuck, Frank and Nancy holding the peregrine.
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90. Young female Peregrine falcon.
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91. Frank holding the peregrine.
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92. Frank banding the peregrine.
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93. Frank and Trudi holding the peregrine.
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94. Chuck, Frank and Rick holding the Peregrine falcon.
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95. Frank about to release the Peregrine falcon.
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96. Frank releasing the peregrine on his birthday!
Photo by Rick Dupont
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97. Frank releasing the peregrine.
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98. Young female Peregrine falcon.
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99. Young female Peregrine falcon.
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