7th Weekend of Banding 2016

Hi All,

On Saturday morning, October 15th, Rick, Chuck and I met Todd and his wife Jenny, who were already camping at Hawk Harbor, around 8:00 am. Nancy and Trudi were busy this weekend and stayed home. Falconer friends Curt Ruthenbeck and Greg Mikkelson had been trapping at Greg's place farther up the shore on Friday and were also staying at Hawk Harbor. Curt was the lucky falconer who got a permit to take the one and only Peregrine falcon allowed for falconry each year in Minnesota. Chris Podraza, a falconer from Nebraska, and his daughter Jillian arrived shortly thereafter to also go up and trap at Greg's place. Chris has a non-resident permit for a Northern goshawk.

Rick, Chuck and I drove up to the main blind and started looking for hawks at 8:30. Winds were light and variable and the sky was partly cloudy. We saw a lot of small birds getting up and heading down the shore but not much for raptors. We finally saw a few Turkey vultures and Bald eagles trying to get into a thermal, but most of them drifted back down into the woods.

We didn't get our first bird until 11:25! It was a small adult male Sharp-shinned hawk that was flying low over the pines to the North of us. When he saw the lure, he came straight in. As we were banding that shin, Brynn Johnson and her friends Holly Grams and Jennifer Chmura drove up. Brynn has been coming up to our banding station for over ten years. Holly and Jennifer are friends of hers from their college days at the University of Minnesota and also have been up before. Thinking this would be a slow day, we did the number game and Jennifer won the release of the shin. I had my camera in movie mode, which makes the still photo option run slow, so, I missed getting the bird in the release shot. AAAARRRGHH!!!

We started seeing more shins getting up, but most of them were adults and didn't even bother looking at us. At 1:53 a young male shin popped up out of the bush and took a shot at the fake owl. Rick pulled the lure line and the shin made a ground hugging approach into the front net. We did another number game and Brynn was the lucky winner. Our fake owl was working really well and a little later a Northern harrier came in and buzzed it a few times. We caught three more shins that afternoon, one adult female and two immature females. Everyone in Brynn's group got to release a bird or two. We closed down for the day at 4:00.

As we were packing away our gear, Greg Mikkelson called to say they had trapped two Tundra Peregrine falcons up at his place. Curt kept one and they wanted to know if I would band the other one before they released it. So we all decided to meet at Hawk Harbor to band the extra Peregrine. Ben Ohlander, who had been sitting in at Jack Vooge's trapping spot up the shore, also stopped by to see the peregrines. We banded the extra bird and Brynn was the lucky person picked to release it. After that, Rick, Chuck, Ben and I had a pizza at Do North Pizzaria in Two Harbors while the rest of the group either went back to Duluth or fixed supper on the grill at Hawk Harbor. Chris and Jillian decided to stay and camp out with us at Hawk Harbor. Todd got a nice campfire going and Jillian made some killer Somores for everyone as a Hunter's Moon rose over the trees. Thanks, Jillian!

We got a total of 6 birds and 0 bounce outs on Saturday.

5 Sharp-shinned hawks and 1 Peregrine falcon (If we band it, we count it).

Sunday morning we packed our stuff into Rick's truck and drove up to the blind. It was a clear sky with a beautiful sunrise as we set up and got started by 7:30. The sun rose a little higher in the sky as an ore boat passed by out on the lake. Brynn, Holly and Jennifer came back to sit in with us around 8:00. At 8:55 a young female Sharp-shinned hawk flew around the base of the owl bush and did a slow and low attack into the front net. We banded it, took photos and had Holly release it. That was the only bird we got that day. We did have an immature Bald eagle come in to take a look at us, followed by a low pass from a different kind of falcon, an F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter jet.

Around 11:00 my brother Mike and his friend Linda Fleury came walking up to the blind with Mary and Don Mattson who they met while walking up the road. Don is the son of Roy Mattson who owns the farm that we band on. Mike and Linda had come to Duluth to drive up along the North Shore. While they were there, we had two adult red-tails make long sloping approaches, but, adult birds are spooked easily, and they pulled up short into the trees above us. The red-tails did put on a good show right up until they got spooked. We expressed how thankful we are that the Mattsons have hosted us on their farm for the past FORTY-SEVEN YEARS and showed them some photos we had taken over the many seasons of banding. We closed down at noon and every one headed for home.

We got a total of only 1 bird and 0 bounce outs on Sunday.

1 Sharp-shinned hawk.

Total for the weekend was 7 birds and 0 bounce-outs.

6 Sharp-shinned hawks and 1 Peregrine falcon.

Grand Total for the year is 164.

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. First bird of the weekend, an adult Sharp-shinned hawk.

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02. Rick and Chuck taking the shin out of the net.

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03. An adult Sharp-shinned hawk.

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04. Chuck banding the shin.

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05. An adult Sharp-shinned hawk.

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06. Jennifer, Brynn, Chuck, Holly and Rick holding the shin.

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07. Jennifer about to release the shin.

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08. I hope Holly got a photo of the shin that Jennifer released, because I missed it!

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09. The shin I missed.

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10. Holly, Jennifer and Brynn watching Rick and Chuck take a young shin out of the net.

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11. A young male Sharp-shinned hawk.

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12. Brynn getting ready to release the shin.

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13. Brynn releasing the shin.

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14. A Northern harrier buzzing the fake owl.

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15. An adult female Sharp-shinned hawk.

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16. Chuck showing the shin to Brynn, Jennifer and Holly.

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17. Jennifer, Brynn and Holly watching Chuck band the shin.

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18. An adult female Sharp-shinned hawk.

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19. Jennifer, Holly and Brynn holding the shin.

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20. Holly releasing the shin.

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21. A young female Sharp-shinned hawk.

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22. Holly, Frank, Brynn and Jennifer holding the shin.

Photo by Rick Dupont

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23. A young female Sharp-shinned hawk.

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24. A very light colored young female Sharp-shinned hawk.

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25. Jennifer about to release the shin.

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26. Jennifer releasing the shin.

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27. Another young female Sharp-shinned hawk.

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28. Brynn about to release the shin.

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29. We shot a slow motion video of Brynn releasing this shin.

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30. A Blue jay coming in to grab some corn.

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31. A Red squirrel coming in to grab some corn.

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32. A young female Peregrine falcon that the falconers caught and brought to us for banding and release.

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33. Jennifer, Chuck, Curt, Ben, Todd, Holly, Jenny, Jillian, Chris, Greg, Brynn and Rick 

with the two peregrines that the falconers caught farther up the shore.

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34. Jillian and Curt holding young female Peregrine falcons.

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35. Two young female Peregrine falcons.

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36. Curt's young female Peregrine falcon.

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37. Jillian, Jennifer, Brynn, Holly, Ben, Greg and Chris 

watching Frank band the Peregrine falcon.

Photo by Rick Dupont

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38. Frank banding the Peregrine falcon at Hawk Harbor.

Photo by Rick Dupont

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39. Brynn getting ready to release the Peregrine falcon.

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40. We took a video of Brynn releasing this Peregrine falcon but due to the low light, it didn't come out clear.

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41. A bright "Hunter's Moon" over Hawk Harbor.

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42. Sunday morning sunrise over the Mattson farm.

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43. An early morning ore boat ghosting by out on the lake.

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44. Young female Sharp-shinned hawk.

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45. Holly, Chuck, Jennifer and Brynn holding the shin.

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46. Holly taking a photo of Chuck banding the Sharp-shinned hawk.

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47. Young female Sharp-shinned hawk.

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48. Jennifer, Brynn and Holly releasing the shin.

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49. A young Bald eagle came in close to take a look at us.

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50. A falcon buzzed the field (F-16 Fighting Falcon).

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51. Frank showing Mary and Don Mattson photos of some of the birds 

we have trapped over 47 years on the Mattson farm.

Photo by Mike Taylor

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52. Mary, Don, Linda, Frank, Chuck and Rick at the main blind.

Photo by Mike Taylor

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