Banding Totals for 2017

Hi All,

Well, this is it, my final tally for the 2017 banding season. This year we banded a total of 132 birds. Last year we caught 170. We got fewer birds this year than last year because of a skunked weekend and a weather-called weekend.

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 64 individuals and 7 organized groups containing 56 people. A total of 120 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-eighth year in a row.

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

THANK YOU also goes to Greg Mikkelson for bringing up more 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 - 4

Immys 2  Males 1  Females 1

Adults 2   Males 1  Females 1

Merlins - 6

Immys 5  Males 3  Females 2

Adults 1   Males 0  Females 1

Kestrels - 2

Immys 0  Males 0  Females 0

Adults 2   Males 1  Females 1

Goshawks - 3

Immys 3  Males 3  Females 0

Adults 0   Males 0  Females 0

Cooper’s - 1

Immys 0  Males 0  Females 0

Adults 1   Males 0  Females 1

Sharp-shins - 109

Immys 79  Males 42  Females 37

Adults 30   Males 10  Females 20

Red-tails - 7

Immys 6  Males 5  Females 1

Adults 1   Males 1  Females 0

Rough-legs - 0

Immys 0  Males 0  Females 0

Adults 0   Males 0  Females 0

Broad-wings - 0

Immys 0  Males 0  Females 0

Adults 0   Males 0  Females 0

Harriers - 0

Immys 0  Males 0  Females 0

Adults 0  Males 0  Females 0

2017 Total Raptors 132

We caught 1 previously banded bird this year, an adult male Peregrine falcon.

We had a total of 24 bounce-outs. (16 fewer than last year)

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

This year was our 48th 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

9th Weekend of Banding 2017

Hello Friends,

On Thursday morning October 19th, Trudi and I woke up to a weather report predicting 4 to 8 inches of snow and 10 to 15 mile an hour winds on Friday for the Duluth, Minnesota, area and then more snow and cold Sunday night. I called Rick and Chuck to see if they were getting the same forecast. We decided that setting up the nets in a blizzard would not be much fun. Right away I called the people who were scheduled to come up and told them the bad news. The long term forecast was for another cold front with more snow and cold lasting through the next week. This was the first time we have had to cancel a banding weekend due to an early season snowstorm.

It looked like there might be a break in the weather on Sunday, so Trudi booked a hotel room in Duluth and we headed up to Hawk Harbor that morning to clean out the blind and winterize the trailers. We saw a couple Rough-legged hawks working the field as we hiked up to the blind. The field was covered in melting snow and it would have been impossible for us to drive our minivan up there without four-wheel drive. We placed all the mats, crates, cages and poles out on a tarp in front of the blind thinking we could drag the stuff down the hill with the two of us tugging on the tarp's towline.

While we were packing the tarp, Tammy Holmer came up to say hi. She had been up the shore taking photos. We had everything loaded on the tarp and Tammy was about to give us a hand dragging it down the hill when Greg Mikkelson came driving right up to the blind in his four-wheeled drive pick-up truck. Talk about perfect timing! Greg had been trapping up at his site and had very few birds coming in, so he thought he would stop by to see how we were doing before heading home. He saved the day! We hooked the tarp's tow line over his trailer hitch, Trudi and Tammy jumped on his tailgate, and I walked slowly along side the tarp making sure it would not snag on the weeds. 

Greg and Tammy had just left and we were loading the trapping gear into our minivan at the bottom of the hill, when Chris Karraker, a falconer from Wisconsin, stopped by. He had been up duck hunting at his family's cabin in northern Minnesota and had stopped on his way home to see if we would be trapping that day. We told him we were closed for the season and Chris continued on home while Trudi and I took the trapping gear back to Hawk Harbor.

Considering the low temperatures and amount of snow predicted for the next few weeks, we decided to close down Hawk Harbor for the season. Trudi and I put tarps over all the trailers, emptied out all the water containers, packed up sleeping bags and blankets, winterized the mowers, and took everything home that might get damaged by the snow and cold. For supper we thought we would go to The Duluth Grill, since we had never been there and had heard a lot of good things about it. What a fun place to eat with a very friendly staff! After our meal and a full day out working in the cold, we checked in to our motel up near Miller Hill Mall. Trudi surprised me by getting a room with a hot tub in it. What a great way to end the day!

Monday morning we went back out to Hawk Harbor to do some last minute pick-up and check that everything was secure for the winter. Before heading home, we took a drive through Sax-Zim Bog. The snow was coming down on and off and the wind was pretty strong. We were hoping to see a Great Gray Owl or maybe a Magpie, but everything was staying out of the wind. We did see a couple deer and a container train before going home. Whoopee Ding Ding!

Our ninth and last weekend of banding was cancelled due to a snowstorm. My next post will have the statistics on the birds we banded this season.

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. Trudi at the blind.

Ninth Weekend 2017

02. Snow on the hay field with more on the way.

Ninth Weekend 2017

03. A Rough-legged hawk watching us close down the blind.

Ninth Weekend 2017

04. A hovering Rough-legged hawk.

Ninth Weekend 2017

05. Trudi, Greg and Tammy helping us pack up the gear.

Ninth Weekend 2017

06. Greg giving us a tow to the bottom of the hill. Trudi and Tammy on the tailgate.

Ninth Weekend 2017

07. Frank and Chris.

Ninth Weekend 2017

08. Trudi with the wrapped-up trailers at Hawk Harbor.

Ninth Weekend 2017

 

09. A welcome hot tub in our room after a day of working out in the cold.

Ninth Weekend 2017

10. Saw some deer at Sax-Zim Bog.

Ninth Weekend 2017

11. A container train cutting through the bog.

Ninth Weekend 2017

12. The container train was over a mile long.

Ninth Weekend 2017

 

8th Weekend of Banding 2017

Hello Friends,

Saturday morning October 21st, I drove up from the cities to meet Nancy, Chuck and Rick at the McDonalds near Spirit Mountain outside of Duluth. Trudi stayed home to catch up on some things she needed to get done. We had a quick breakfast and got up to Hawk Harbor around 8:00 am. Todd was already there with his wife Jenny and had their camper set up. Their daughter Jessie and her boyfriend Matt were there as well camping in a tent. Everet Horton, a long time falconer friend, was also there with his falconer friend, Isaac Gayle, who had a non-resident permit to catch a Northern goshawk. We set up our camping spots and headed up to the banding blind.

The sky was overcast when we started at 8:45 and just after that it started to rain. Not exactly a good day for hawk trapping! Around 9:00 eight members of the University of Minnesota Fish & Wildlife Club, led by Jeff Tilley, came up to see us. Four members went into the dry main blind with Nancy, Chuck and Rick while I sat with the other four members in the overflow blind that does not have a roof. It kept on raining the whole time they were there. Good training for most of them who would eventually get jobs and internships in the great outdoors (rain or shine). We had a few Northern harriers go by but they didn't come in and at 10:50 a lone soaked shin that was hunting the draw saw our lure and came stooping in. Every one rushed out to watch Rick and Chuck take it out of the net and band it, while Nancy recorded the data. As a very nice gesture to Emma, the only senior in the group, who would be graduating that year, everyone decided to have her do the release. We took a bunch of photos in the rain and Emma, with the help of other members, sent the shin on its wet and weary way. While we were out taking photos of the shin, a Merlin made a pass at the net but overshot it and went up into a tree. We switched out members in each blind and the dry four came out to sit with me in the wet blind. They stayed until 12:30 but no more hawks came in. Just before the Fish & Wildlife Club left, I gave them the usual handouts, art prints, I. D. sheets and bookmarks.

My White Bear Lake neighbor Nick Temali brought up JoAnn Moats and Patty and Dave Muckala while I was walking the wildlife club group back down the hill. Nick was an administrator for the Mounds View School District for many years and we worked together years ago on a logo for the Laurentian Environmental Center, near Britt, Minnesota. We sat for a while out in the overflow blind and I showed them my photo books of birds we had caught on drier days. We moved into the main blind and they stayed for an hour or so, and then they headed back to Duluth. Due to the pouring rain, I forgot to get my camera out for a photo of Nick's group. Hopefully, we will see them again next year and the weather will be much better.

After Nick and his group left, Chris Brandt along with his wife Lynette and their two sons, Levy and Bugsy, came up to see us. Chris's sister-in-law, Sherri, and her son Cory also came along. They stayed until we closed down at 4:00. We saw a few Northern harriers and some eagles but nothing came in. Nancy, Chuck, Rick and I went into Two Harbors for supper at the Subway sandwich shop. It was so wet that night that we did not have a campfire.

We got a total of 1 bird and no bounce-outs on Saturday.

1 Sharp-shinned hawk.

Sunday morning it didn't get light until about 7:00. The rain had stopped but it was still very overcast and threatening. Nancy, Chuck, Rick and I went up to the main blind and got set to up by 8:15. Around 9:00 our friend Alishia Walden who volunteers at The Raptor Center and does some Saw-wet owl banding came up. There was no wind, no rain and no birds moving. Strong Southwest winds were predicted, but it wasn't until after 10:00 that we started to feel a breeze. As the skies cleared and the wind picked up, birds started moving in pretty good numbers. We got our first bird of the day at 10:38, a young male Sharp-shinned hawk that was chasing a Blue jay around the blind.  We caught another young male shin a little while later and while we were out getting that one out of the net, an adult male shin came in, flew right in between us, hit the front net but bounced out. We took photos of the two shins and Alishia did a double release. Three more shins came in rapid succession, we caught two, and one bounced out.

At 12:47 a young Red-tailed hawk came in, but it pulled up and landed in the trees above the blind. Then it moved down the tree line a little and waited a bit before dropping in over the front net. It hit the front of the back net while Rick made a mad dash to secure it. It got out past Rick and hit the back net again, further down. Rick continued the chase! It then flew around past Rick again, as he made a desperate grab for it, only this time, it hit the back of the front net. Rick moved like lightning and was on it before it could say, "Who the hell is that guy!" We banded it, took a bunch of photos, and Alishia let it go. Rick relaxed!

We caught five more shins in a row without any bounce outs, did some slow motion filming, took photos, hypnotized a couple, and Alishia did another double release. Around 2:50 things started slowing down a bit. We looked out over the "flat top" and saw a larger bird pumping along and headed straight for us. Rick pulled the lure and it "locked on". It wasn't until after it came in low over the draw that we noticed the "white eyebrow". Boom!!! A nice young male Northern goshawk, straight into the center of the front net. Whoopee Ding Ding!!! We banded it, took a load of photos and Alishia did the release. Nice way to end the day, so we closed down at 3:00 and packed up for home.

We got a total of 11 birds and 2 bounce outs on Sunday.

9 Sharp-shinned hawks, 1 Red-tailed hawk and 1 Northern goshawk.

Total for the weekend was 12 birds and 2 bounce-outs.

10 Sharp-shinned hawks, 1 Red-tailed hawk, 1 Northern goshawk.

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. Young male Northern Goshawk.

Eighth Weekend 2017

02. Young Red-tailed hawk.

Eighth Weekend 2017

03. A rainy day Sharp-shinned hawk.

Eighth Weekend 2017

04. Fish & Wildlife Club students watching Rick and Chuck take the shin out of the net.

Eighth Weekend 2017

05. Frank, Emma, Devan, Dieter, Jeff, Chuck, Marielle, Clare, Natalie and Logan holding the Sharp-shinned hawk.

Eighth Weekend 2017

06. Dieter, Devan, Jeff, Marielle, Clare, Logan and Emma about to release the Sharp-shinned hawk.

Eighth Weekend 2017

07. Dieter, Devan, Jeff, Marielle, Clare and Logan helping Emma release the Sharp-shinned hawk.

Eighth Weekend 2017

08. Cory, Sherri, Lynette, Bugsy, Chris, Levy and Frank on a rainy Saturday afternoon.

Eighth Weekend 2017

09. A young male Sharp-shinned hawk on Sunday morning.

Eighth Weekend 2017

10. Chuck banding the shin while Nancy records the data.

Eighth Weekend 2017

11. Frank, Rick, Alishia, Chuck and Nancy holding the first shin of the day.

Eighth Weekend 2017

12. The second bird of the day, another young male shin.

Eighth Weekend 2017

13. A close look at the Hyppoboscid fly on the second shin's eye.

Eighth Weekend 2017

14. Alishia about to do a double release of the two young shins.

Eighth Weekend 2017

15. Alishia doing a double release of the two young shins.

Eighth Weekend 2017

16. A young Red-tailed hawk.

Eighth Weekend 2017

17. Alishia taking photos of Chuck and Rick pulling the red-tail out of the net.

Eighth Weekend 2017

18. A young Red-tailed hawk.

Eighth Weekend 2017

19. Chuck banding the young red-tail.

Eighth Weekend 2017

20. Rick, Nancy, Chuck, Alishia and Frank holding the red-tail.

Eighth Weekend 2017

21. A young Red-tailed hawk.

Eighth Weekend 2017

22. Rick, Chuck, Nancy and Alishia about to release the Red-tailed hawk.

Eighth Weekend 2017

  

23. Rick, Chuck and Nancy helping Alishia release the Red-tailed hawk.

Eighth Weekend 2017

24. An adult Sharp-shinned hawk.

Eighth Weekend 2017

25. Alishia watching Chuck band the shin.

Eighth Weekend 2017

26. An adult Sharp-shinned hawk.

Eighth Weekend 2017

27. An adult Sharp-shinned hawk.

Eighth Weekend 2017

28. An adult Sharp-shinned hawk.

Eighth Weekend 2017

29. An adult Sharp-shinned hawk.

Eighth Weekend 2017

30. An adult Sharp-shinned hawk.

Eighth Weekend 2017

31. Alishia about to do a double adult shin release.

Eighth Weekend 2017

32. Alishia doing a double adult shin release.

Eighth Weekend 2017

33. A young male Northern Goshawk.

Eighth Weekend 2017

34. Rick and Chuck getting the goshawk out of the net.

Eighth Weekend 2017

35. Chuck checking out the goshawk.

Eighth Weekend 2017

36. A back view of the Northern Goshawk.

Eighth Weekend 2017

37. Chuck banding the goshawk.

Eighth Weekend 2017

38. A young male Northern Goshawk.

Eighth Weekend 2017

39. Alishia about to release the Northern Goshawk.

Eighth Weekend 2017

40. Alishia releasing the Northern Goshawk.

Eighth Weekend 2017