Monday, September 25, 2017

4th Weekend of Banding 2017


Hello Friends,

WOW!!!!! What a weekend!!! We caught a North Shore "trifecta" of falcons: a Peregrine Falcon, a Merlin and an American Kestrel! We also caught the North American "trifecta" of accipiters: a Northern Goshawk, a Cooper's Hawk and a Sharp-shinned Hawk!!!

Saturday morning Trudi and I met Rick, Nancy and Chuck at the McDonalds near Spirit Mountain at 7:00 for breakfast. Then we all drove to Hawk Harbor where Todd was already set up as we drove past his blind down on our land. We loaded all our gear into Rick's truck and drove up to the banding blind. The weather forecast did not look good for the weekend so we hung a cover-up tarp on the back of the blind in case of rain. There was no wind or rain, but the temperature was climbing rapidly as the sun came out. We were set up and ready to trap by 8:45. At 9:00 Butch Ukura came up with Judd Brink, the new president of the Bee Nay She Bird Club. Butch has been coming up with members of this oldest of birding clubs in Minnesota for several years now. After settling in, we caught our 1st bird of the weekend, a young male Sharp-shinned hawk at 9:48. We banded it, took a bunch of photo and Judd released it.

At 10:05 we saw a Peregrine falcon coming over high from the north. We tried for it but it just passed over without dipping a wing. We caught 2 more shins and then had 1 kestrel and 2 shins bounce out in rapid succession.

Hawks were getting up all over as the temperature kept on climbing. Around 11:30 we got a very pleasant surprise when falconer Jeff Redig stopped in. Jeff has been like one of Trudi and my kids since he was born. He even stayed at our house when I went with Trudi when she taught at the University of London in England. Jeff was also the person who orchestrated donations from many of the people who had been up to the blind, so they could buy me my pair of Swarovski 10 x 50 binoculars. We caught 5 more shins and 1 kestrel before Butch, Judd and Jeff had to leave.

Around 1:00 Sue Melchior and her oldest son Theo came up to the blind. Sue's dad, Del Hogen, had recently passed away. Del was an officer and founding member of the Minnesota Falconers Association in the early 70's. Theo is interested in following in his grandfather's footsteps. This was Theo's first trip up to our banding station. While he was there in the sweltering heat, we had 2 bounce outs but we caught 12 Sharp-shinned hawks and one Peregrine falcon. We caught the Peregrine at 2:49, we banded it, took a load of photos and had Theo release it in honor of his grandfather Del.

After Sue and Theo left around 4:30, we caught 3 more shins and a Merlin. The Merlin was the third species of falcon we caught that day, completing a falcon "trifecta". We closed down at 5:00.

Todd joined Trudi, Nancy, Rick, Chuck and me for supper at the Culvers in Two Harbors. I couldn't help myself when I saw the menu and ordered the chopped steak dinner with fried onions, mushrooms and extra gravy.

We got a total of 27 birds and 5 bounce-outs on Saturday.
24 Sharp-shinned hawks, 1 Peregrine Falcon, 1 Merlin and 1 American Kestrel.

On Sunday morning we headed back up to the blind in a misting fog. We set the nets and started at 7:30 am. Our fake owl did its job and lured a hunting shin up out of the draw. It saw our lure and came right in. Yay! No skunk day today! We caught 5 more shins before 9:00.

Around 9:00 Mavis Magnuson, her nephew Larry Magnuson, her niece Cindy May and her grand niece Jaclynn Magnuson along with Larry's friend Ron Rakness came up. Mavis worked at Northwest Airlines 20 years ago when I was Curator of Education Birds at The Raptor Center and she took care of all the birds that we shipped out for weekend programs at new Target and Petsmart stores. Mavis has been coming up ever since then. Larry and Ron have been up a few times and Cindy was up once before. This was Jaclynn's first time at the blind.

While I was giving Mavis's group the migration talk on the way up to the blind, we caught a Merlin and another shin. I had stopped talking long enough for them to see both birds diving across the field and into the nets while we all stood out in the field.  We took a bunch of photos, did some releases and climbed into the blind. We caught 4 more shins while they were there. At 10:28 we caught a beautiful adult female Cooper's hawk, banded it, took photos and Mavis released it.

Right after Mavis's group left at 12:56, we were watching what we thought was a young Red-tailed hawk way off to the North that was making lazy slow circles in the sky and resisting all our efforts. All of a sudden it "locked on" to our lure and dropped right in. To our great surprise, it turned out to be a young Northern goshawk. Whoopy Ding Ding!!! That completed our North American accipiter "trifecta," including a Northern Goshawk, a Cooper's Hawk and a Sharp-shinned Hawk! Rain was threatening so we closed down for the weekend at 1:00.

We got a total of 13 birds and 0 bounce outs on Sunday.
10 Sharp-shinned hawks, 1 Cooper's Hawk, 1 Northern Goshawk and 1 Merlin.

Total for the weekend was 40 birds and 5 bounce-outs.
34 Sharp-shinned hawks, 1 Cooper's Hawk, 1 Northern Goshawk,
1 Peregrine Falcon, 2 Merlins and 1 American Kestrel.

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. Peregrine Falcon, first in the trifecta of falcons.
Fourth Weekend 2017


02. Merlin, second in the trifecta of falcons.
Fourth Weekend 2017


03. American Kestrel, third in the trifecta of falcons.
Fourth Weekend 2017
  


04. Northern Goshawk, first in the trifecta of accipiters.
Fourth Weekend 2017


05. Cooper's Hawk, second in the trifecta of accipiters.
Fourth Weekend 2017
  

06. Sharp-shinned Hawk, third in the trifecta of accipiters.
Fourth Weekend 2017
  

07. A young shin, the first bird of the weekend.
Fourth Weekend 2017
  

08. Chuck and Rick taking the shin out of the net while Judd and Butch watch.
Fourth Weekend 2017



09. Judd about to release the shin.
Fourth Weekend 2017


10. Judd releasing the shin.
Fourth Weekend 2017
  

11. An adult Sharp-shinned hawk.
Fourth Weekend 2017

12. Judd with Butch, who is about to release the shin.
Fourth Weekend 2017

13. Butch releasing the shin.
Fourth Weekend 2017

14. A surprise visit from Jeff. Left to right: Frank, Jeff and Trudi.
Fourth Weekend 2017
     


15. Jeff and Frank with the Swarovski binoculars that Jeff arranged as a gift for me from visitors to the blind. (Yes, I did let him use them while he was there.)
Fourth Weekend 2017
  


16. A young shin.
Fourth Weekend 2017



17. Butch, Nancy, Maggie (the dog), Rick, Trudi, Jeff, Chuck, Judd and Frank with a couple of shins.
Fourth Weekend 2017



18. Jeff about to release a shin.
Fourth Weekend 2017
  


19. Jeff releasing the shin.
Fourth Weekend 2017
  

20. A female American Kestrel.
Fourth Weekend 2017


21. Frank, Rick, Nancy, Maggie (the dog), Trudi, Jeff and Chuck with some more birds to release.
Fourth Weekend 2017
  

22. Chuck, Jeff and Trudi doing a triple shin release.
Fourth Weekend 2017

23. A female American Kestrel.
Fourth Weekend 2017
 

24. Rick releasing the kestrel.
Fourth Weekend 2017


25. An adult Sharp-shinned hawk.
Fourth Weekend 2017


26. Sue and Theo about to release a shin.
Fourth Weekend 2017


27. Theo releasing the shin.
Fourth Weekend 2017
 

28. A young Sharp-shinned hawk in the tree.
Fourth Weekend 2017
 



29. Sue, Frank and Theo with a couple of shins.
Fourth Weekend 2017


30. Theo and Sue about to release some shins.
Fourth Weekend 2017


31. Theo and Sue doing a double shin release.
Fourth Weekend 2017

32. A young Peregrine falcon.
Fourth Weekend 2017
 

33. Rick and Chuck taking the peregrine out of the net.
Fourth Weekend 2017


34. Chuck holding the peregrine.
Fourth Weekend 2017



35. Nancy, Maggie and Chuck posing with the peregrine.
Fourth Weekend 2017
 

36. Trudi and Frank posing with the peregrine.
Fourth Weekend 2017
 

37. A young Peregrine falcon.
Fourth Weekend 2017
 

38. Theo about to release the peregrine.
Fourth Weekend 2017
 

39. Theo releasing a peregrine falcon in honor of his recently deceased grandfather Del Hogen, who was a founding member of the Minnesota Falconers Association.
Fourth Weekend 2017

40. Nancy and Trudi about to release some shins.
Fourth Weekend 2017


41. Nancy and Trudi doing a double shin release.
Fourth Weekend 2017


42. A Merlin.
Fourth Weekend 2017

43. The back view of the Merlin.
Fourth Weekend 2017


44. Rick about to release the Merlin.
Fourth Weekend 2017


45. Rick releasing the Merlin.
Fourth Weekend 2017

46. Maggie relaxing after a very hot day out behind the blind. (She's thinking, "Are you guys done yet?")
Fourth Weekend 2017

47. A foggy Sunday morning.
Fourth Weekend 2017

48. Our fake owl attracted some shins through the early morning mist.
Fourth Weekend 2017

49. An adult Sharp-shinned hawk.
Fourth Weekend 2017
 

50. Rick stating the obvious, "It came from up there!"
Fourth Weekend 2017


51. Mavis, Nancy, Trudi, Jaclynn, Chuck, Ron, Larry, Rick, Cindy and Frank with some shins.
Fourth Weekend 2017



52. Jaclynn about to release the shin.
Fourth Weekend 2017
 

53. Jaclynn releasing the shin.
Fourth Weekend 2017
 

54. Cindy about to release a shin.
Fourth Weekend 2017
 

55. Cindy releasing the Sharp-shinned hawk.
Fourth Weekend 2017


56. Mavis about to release another Sharp-shinned hawk.
Fourth Weekend 2017


57. Mavis releasing the Sharp-shinned hawk.
Fourth Weekend 2017


58. Larry about to release a shin.
Fourth Weekend 2017


59. Larry releasing a shin.
Fourth Weekend 2017

60. Ron about to release a Merlin.
Fourth Weekend 2017

61. Ron releasing the Merlin.
Fourth Weekend 2017

62. An adult female Cooper's hawk.
Fourth Weekend 2017

63. An adult female Cooper's hawk.
Fourth Weekend 2017


64. Chuck banding the Cooper's hawk.
Fourth Weekend 2017


65. Comparing a female shin and a female Cooper's hawk.
Fourth Weekend 2017


66. An adult female Cooper's hawk.
Fourth Weekend 2017


67. Mavis about to release the Cooper's hawk.
Fourth Weekend 2017


68. Mavis releasing the Cooper's hawk.
Fourth Weekend 2017


69. A young Northern Goshawk.
Fourth Weekend 2017


70. Rick and Chuck taking the goshawk out of the net.
Fourth Weekend 2017


71. Rick and Chuck holding the goshawk.
Fourth Weekend 2017


72. Back view of the Northern Goshawk.
Fourth Weekend 2017


73. Chuck banding the goshawk.
Fourth Weekend 2017


74. A young Northern Goshawk.
Fourth Weekend 2017


75. Chuck releasing the goshawk.
Fourth Weekend 2017