Friday, November 11, 2016

Banding Totals for 2016

Hi All,

Well, this is it, my final tally for the 2016 banding season. This year we banded a total of 170 birds. Last year we caught 152. Not one of our better seasons but we did have much milder weather.

We get lots of birds visiting each year, but we also get a good number of relatives, friends, falconers, birders and students coming up to share in the fun. I did a tally again this year of individuals who were up enjoying our banding activities. I counted each person only once, even if they came up multiple times. We had 75 individuals and 8 organized groups containing 65 people. A total of 140 guests were able to have an exceptional hawk viewing experience up at our site this year!

I hope their visit inspires each of them to a greater appreciation for our feathered friends, the raptors, and to make donations to:
The Raptor Center (www.raptor.cvm.umn.edu),
The National Eagle Center (www.nationaleaglecenter.org) and
Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory (www.hawkridge.org).
Please support the people who work to help the raptors in our state.

A very special THANK YOU goes to Mr. Mattson for letting us use his hay field for the forty-seventh year in a row.

Also a big THANK YOU goes to Tina Cisewski and Randy Burington for supplying our lure birds this year.

THANK YOU also goes to Greg Mikkelson for bringing up trailer loads of firewood.

Last but not least, I really must say a BIG THANK YOU to every one of our banding crew who came up to do the banding again this year. What a great and dedicated team of regulars we have. Trudi Taylor, Rick DuPont, Chuck & Nancy Schotzko and Todd Rosengren: without your dedication and co-operation, we would not be able to do this thing we love so much, year after year.

THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH!!!!!!

Here it is, the final breakdown.

Eagles - None
Immys 0  Males 0  Females 0
Adults 0   Males 0  Females 0



 Peregrines - 1
Immys 1  Males 0  Females 1
Adults 0   Males 0  Females 0


Merlins - 5
Immys 4  Males 1  Females 3
Adults 1   Males 1  Females 0


Kestrels - 6
Immys 6  Males 5  Females 1
Adults 0   Males 0  Females 0


Goshawks - 3
Immys 3  Males 3  Females 0
Adults 0   Males 0  Females 0


Cooper’s - 4
Immys 3  Males 3  Females 0
Adults 1   Males 0  Females 1


Sharp-shins - 134
Immys 97  Males 50  Females 47
Adults 37   Males 5  Females 32


Red-tails - 12
Immys 11  Males 5  Females 6
Adults 1   Males 1  Females 0


Rough-legs - 2
Immys 1  Males 0  Females 1
Adults 1   Males 0  Females 1


Broad-wings - 1
Immys 1  Males 1  Females 0
Adults 0   Males 0  Females 0


Harriers - 2
Immys 2  Males 0  Females 2
Adults 0  Males 0  Females 0

2016 Total Raptors 170

We didn't catch any previously banded birds this year.

We had a total of 40 bounce-outs. (15 more than last year)

Thanks for being such great friends and sharing an interest in our modest program!

This year was our 47th consecutive year of catching hawks in Mr. Mattson’s field.

We hope to see you all again next fall, and meanwhile keep your eyes on the skies!

Frank & Trudi Taylor

Wednesday, November 2, 2016

9th Weekend of Banding 2016

Hi All,

Well, this is it, the last report of our banding activities for this year, 2016. I will send out one more post with a final tally and breakdown of what species, age and sex we caught this season.

Saturday morning, October 29th, at 8:00, Rick, Chuck and I met Randy Burington at Hawk Harbor. Todd did not come up this weekend and Randy had been up for a couple days trying to catch a Northern Goshawk. Trudi and Nancy were busy at home, but Nancy did send some double chocolate cookies for us. Kenny Wagner came up a little later in the day to help Randy.

We piled our gear into the back of Rick's pick-up for the last time this season and headed up to the blind. We had everything ready to start banding by 8:30. The skies were partly cloudy with a dead calm. Nothing was moving except a shrike that was hunting down on the other end of the field. Around 9:00 we saw what looked like hundreds of crows all strung out across the sky and heading down the shore line.

At 10:00 Bill Tefft came up. He had booked the day for a group but decided to treat himself and come up alone. So, the four of us had the whole blind to ourselves and started scanning for hawks. A few Bald eagles got up followed by a couple of Rough-legged hawks, but they were way too far South of us. Just as we were thinking things were a bit dull, a very blond young Peregrine falcon shot up over the barn and headed straight West down our road and right past Hawk Harbor. Unfortunately, it kept right on going without even looking our way. It was great to see, even if it didn't come in.

Around 12:00 a young Rough-legged hawk came slowly drifting in and sat in the tree right above the blind. We tried every manouver we could think of to get it excited about our lure, but to no avail. So, we sat there quietly looking for other hawks and twiching the lure once in a while. About a half hour after the Rough-legged hawk landed in the tree over us, he dropped down next to the lure and Rick blasted out of the blind. It was too shocked seeing Rick rush him to think about his escape route and ran right into the back of the front net. Whew!!! That took a long time, but it was our first bird of the weekend and it kept us from being skunked for that day. We banded the Rough-legged hawk and took a bunch of photos. No need for the number game today as Bill was our only guest, so he got to release it.

A few more hawks started passing over but most were sky high. At 1:04 we started pulling for an adult Red-tailed hawk that was out over the barn and not too high. It locked on and looked like it was interested, but then started showing signs of drifting off into a thermal. We all had our eyes glued on the adult when a young Red-tailed hawk dropped in high from the right of our field of vision. It hit the front net dead center and we had our second bird of the day. We banded it, took more photos and Bill got to release that one as well.

Things really slowed down after that and Bill took off for Hawk Ridge. Just as we were about to close down for the day, a very light phase young red-tail flew by in front of the blind and pitched up into the trees North of us. The crows started mobbing him right away and he moved to some trees on the North side of our field. We tried everyting under the sun to get him to come in, but nothing worked. Finally he took off and we closed down at 4:15. When we got back to Hawk Harbor, Kenny told us that he had trapped that same bird a couple days ago. No wonder he was reluctant to come in.

Rick, Chuck and I headed into Two Harbors for a pizza at Do North Pizzaria. When we got back, Randy and Kenny had a nice campfire going.

We got 2 birds and no bounce-outs on Saturday.
1 Rough-legged hawk and 1 Red-tailed hawk.

Sunday morning we had partly cloudy skies and no wind. We noticed that the corn we put out for our pigeons the day before was still there. We were lamenting the possibility that the little Red squirrel who always comes by to steal some corn may have been taken out by a migrating hawk. About ten minutes later, however, there he was back grabbing as much as he could stuff in his little cheeks.

Around 9:00 Ryan Keenan arrived with seven other members of the University of Minnesota's Fish & Wildlife Club. This group has been coming up for three years now. When Ryan called me late in September to see if we still might have a day open for them to stop by, I told him that this was the only one left.

We gave the group a tour of the banding station and then settled in to see if we might spot a bird. Things were dead slow, so we had a lot of time to explain that, just like when you are out fishing, some days are not so productive. After seeing only a few birds starting to migrate, we saw a Rough-legged hawk locked on from way out over the other end of the field. Everyone's eyes were on it when it made a long slanting glide into our set and hit the front net! That was our 170th and last hawk of the season. We showed the group how we band it and then took a bunch of photos. Sure beats having to do a "Wish Bird" symbol with our visitors! Everyone in the group decided that because it was Mac's (MacKenzie Mullin) birthday, she should be the one to release it.

After the release, I did my little migration talk for the group and gave them all bookmarks, identification sheets and an art print. They took off for Seven Bridges Road with a stop at Hawk Ridge, while we closed down the station at 12:30. When I got back down to Hawk Harbor, my nephew Andrew was there with his girlfriend Abby and their friend Scott. Randy was still there as well, and was planning to continue trying for a goshawk until dark.

We got only 1 bird and 0 bounce-outs on Sunday.
1 Rough-legged hawk.

Final Count and Grand Total for the year is 170.

In an effort to keep this email file small and save some time resizing photos,
I am including my "North Shore Banding - Frank Taylor" link so you can look at the photos from this last weekend.
Click on the link below and then scroll down to the bottom of the text to see all the photos. You can also review any of my weekly reports from the last four years by clicking on the 2012/13/14/15 links at the right side of that page.

Remember also, to go to You Tube and search Frank Taylor Films or click on https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4sdI11-TvxPaQ5nO3PsKKA and then scroll to View All.

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 ore boat out on the lake.
Ninth Weekend 2016

02. First bird of the weekend, a Rough-legged hawk.
Ninth Weekend 2016

03. Rick and Chuck taking the Rough-legged hawk out of the net.
Ninth Weekend 2016

04. A Rough-legged hawk.
Ninth Weekend 2016

05. Chuck holding the Rough-legged hawk.
Ninth Weekend 2016

06. Chuck banding the Rough-legged hawk.
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07. A Rough-legged hawk.
Ninth Weekend 2016

08. Feathered tarsi and foot of the Rough-legged hawk.
Ninth Weekend 2016

09. Bill, Chuck and Rick holding the Rough-legged hawk.
Ninth Weekend 2016

10. A Rough-legged hawk.
Ninth Weekend 2016

11. Bill about to release the Rough-legged hawk.
Ninth Weekend 2016

12. Bill releasing the Rough-legged hawk.
Ninth Weekend 2016

13. A young Red-tailed hawk coming in.
Ninth Weekend 2016

14. A young Red-tailed hawk.
Ninth Weekend 2016

15. Rick and Chuck taking the Red-tailed hawk out of the net.
Ninth Weekend 2016

16. A young Red-tailed hawk.
Ninth Weekend 2016

17. Chuck showing us the back of the red-tail.
Ninth Weekend 2016

18. A young Red-tailed hawk.
Ninth Weekend 2016

19. Bill about to release the young Red-tailed hawk.
Ninth Weekend 2016

20. Bill releasing the young Red-tailed hawk.
Ninth Weekend 2016

21. Sunday sunrise over the Mattson farm.
Ninth Weekend 2016

22. Our little buddy, the Red squirrel, saying "Thanks for the corn!"
Ninth Weekend 2016

23. Frank with members of the University of Minnesota Fish and Wildlife Club.
Left to right: Frank, Ryan, Mac, Devon, Kirsten, Dominic, Alex, Ashley and Baylee.
Photo by Rick Dupont
Ninth Weekend 2016

24. A Rough-legged hawk.
Ninth Weekend 2016

25. Club members watching Rick and Chuck remove the hawk from the net.
Ninth Weekend 2016

26. Club members watching Chuck and Rick remove the hawk from the net.
Ninth Weekend 2016

27. A Rough-legged hawk.
Ninth Weekend 2016

28. Rick and Chuck holding the Rough-legged hawk.
Ninth Weekend 2016

29. A Rough-legged hawk.
Ninth Weekend 2016

30. Rick, Ryan, Mac, Devon, Kirsten, Chuck, Dominic, Alex, Ashley and Baylee holding the Rough-legged hawk.
Ninth Weekend 2016

31. Mac, Devon, Ryan, Kirsten, Rick, Chuck, Alex, Ashley, Dominic and Baylee holding the Rough-legged hawk.
Ninth Weekend 2016

32. A Rough-legged hawk.
Ninth Weekend 2016

33. A Rough-legged hawk.
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34. Mac was chosen to release the Rough-legged hawk for her birthday.
Ninth Weekend 2016

35. Alex, Ryan, Ashley, Kirsten, Dominic, Baylee, and Devon with Mac about to release the Rough-legged hawk.
Ninth Weekend 2016

36. Alex, Ryan, Ashley, Kirsten, Dominic, Baylee, and Devon helping Mac release the Rough-legged hawk.
Ninth Weekend 2016

37. Frank doing his little migration talk.
Photo by Rick Dupont
Ninth Weekend 2016

38. Frank talking about our local raptor species.
Photo by Rick Dupont
Ninth Weekend 2016

39. Frank handing out bird identification sheets and book marks.
Photo by Rick Dupont
Ninth Weekend 2016

40. Frank handing out art prints.
Photo by Rick Dupont
Ninth Weekend 2016

41. Randy, Scott, Andrew and Abby at Hawk Harbor just before we closed down for the season.
Ninth Weekend 2016