Tuesday, September 29, 2015

4th Weekend of Banding 2015

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.

Frank & Trudi Taylor



01. Frank and his Birthday Peregrine.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


02. Stan Tekiela and his group, pulling up in the bus.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


03. Stan looking for a BIG hawk.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


04. A BIG hawk found Stan.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


05. First bird of the foggy day, a young male Sharp-shinned hawk.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


06. Stan's group watching Chuck and Rick take a hawk out of the net.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


07. Victoria, Raisa, Stan, Lois, Dick, Frank, Steve, Debbie, Byron, Melinda, Steve and Roberta, holding the shin.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


08. Frank showing the group a shin.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


09. Stan's group taking photos of the shin.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


10. The group watching Chuck band the shin.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


11. Chuck showing the group a shin.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


12. A young female Sharp-shinned hawk.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


13. Melinda about to release the shin.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


14. Melinda releasing the shin.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


15. Lois and Dick about to release a shin.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


16. Dick and Lois releasing the shin.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


17. Debbie about to release a shin.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


18. Debbie releasing the shin.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


19. Frank handing out art prints, identification sheets and bookmarks.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


20. Stan, Frank and Trudi.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


21. Stan's group getting on the bus to go to Hawk Ridge.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


22. Frank and Chris in front of the blind.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


23. A young female Sharp-shinned hawk.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


24. Chuck and Rick taking a shin out of the net for the Thorsen family.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


25. Chuck showing Kyle, Joanne, Nancy and Chris how we band the shin.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


26. Kyle, Joanne, Chuck, Nancy, Chris and Rick, holding the shin.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


27. Joanne and Kyle releasing the shin.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


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


29. Sunday morning sunrise photo by Trudi.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


30. Young male American kestrel in the tree above the blind.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


31. First bird on Sunday, an adult male Sharp-shinned hawk.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


32. Rick taking the shin out of the net.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


33. Frank, Jamie and Trudi with the shin.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


34. Frank and Jamie with the shin.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


35. Jamie holding the shin.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


36. Trudi and Jamie releasing the shin.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


37. Bill Tefft's group arriving by bus.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


38. Frank giving Bill's group a migration talk.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


39. An adult male Sharp-shinned hawk.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


40. Bill's group watching Rick and Chuck take a shin out of the net.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


41. Young female Merlin.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


42. Rick and Chuck taking the Merlin out of the net.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


43. A young female Merlin.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


44. Frank showing Bill's group the Merlin.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


45. Young female Merlin.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


46. A young female Sharp-shinned hawk.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


47. Chuck showing the group how we band the shin.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


48. Trudi showing the group a shin.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


49. Brooks, Christa, Marian, Ellen, Bryan, Helen, Jay, Frank, Mike, Carol, Cameron, Russ, Jodi, Bill and Terry holding 10 hawks and falcons.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


50. Young female Merlin.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


51. Frank showing Brooks how to release the Merlin.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


52. Christa and Brooks releasing the Merlin.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


53. Cameron about to release a shin.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


54. Cameron releasing the shin.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


55. Carol with a shin (Sorry, I missed your release shot).
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


56. Mike about to release a shin.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


57. Mike releasing the shin.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


58. Jay about to release a shin.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


59. Jay releasing the shin.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


60. Helen about to release a shin.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


61. Helen releasing the shin.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


62. Bryan about to release a Merlin.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


63. Bryan releasing the Merlin.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


64. Ellen about to release a shin.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


65. Ellen releasing the shin.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


66. Marian about to release a shin.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


67. Marian releasing the shin.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


68. Christa about to release a shin.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


69. Christa releasing the shin.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


70. Jodi about to release a shin.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


71. Jodie releasing the shin.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


72. Russ about to release a shin.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


73. Russ releasing the shin.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


74. Terry about to release a shin.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


75. Terry releasing the shin.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


76. Bill about to release a shin.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


77. Bill releasing the shin.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


78. Frank showing the group how to hypnotize a shin.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


79. Showing the group my artwork.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


80. Handing out art prints to the group before they leave.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


81. Young female Sharp-shinned hawk.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


82. Chuck and Nancy about to release the Sharp-shinned hawk.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


83. Chuck and Nancy releasing the shin.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


84. Young female Peregrine falcon coming in.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


85. Young female Peregrine falcon.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


86. Rick and Chuck taking the peregrine out of the net.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


87. Young female Peregrine falcon.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


88. Young female Peregrine falcon.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


89. Rick, Chuck, Frank and Nancy holding the peregrine.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


90. Young female Peregrine falcon.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


91. Frank holding the peregrine.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


92. Frank banding the peregrine.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


93. Frank and Trudi holding the peregrine.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


94. Chuck, Frank and Rick holding the Peregrine falcon.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


95. Frank about to release the Peregrine falcon.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


96. Frank releasing the peregrine on his birthday!
Photo by Rick Dupont
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


97. Frank releasing the peregrine.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


98. Young female Peregrine falcon.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015


99. Young female Peregrine falcon.
Fourth Week of Banding 2015