Friday, October 6, 2017

5th Weekend of Banding 2017


Hello Friends,

Our fifth weekend of banding turned out to be a very wet five-days at the blind.

On 7:00 Saturday morning September 30th, I met Rick at the McDonalds near Spirit Mountain. I was alone as Trudi had things to catch up on at home that weekend. Just as I sat down with Rick, Chuck called to say that his son David, who lives in Canada, had just arrived with his family so he and Nancy would not be able to be there either. Todd had come up on Friday and was already set up when we drove into Hawk Harbor.

Rick and I set up the nets and started at 8:45. Skies were clear blue with little or no wind. Not until 10:43, when it started to cloud up, did we catch our first bird of the day, an adult male Sharp-shinned hawk. We caught 2 more shins before 12:00. At noon, Troy Holkestad stopped in to see us. Troy's dad, Ken Holkestad, had been our long time falconry friend and a hawk bander. A little while later Emily Kermath drove up with Erin Toohey and Katherine Schmitz, who all work at R.E.G.I. (Raptor Education Group Inc.) in Wisconsin. Abby Krumrie who used to work there was also along. Emily and Abbey had been up a few times before, but this was Katherine and Erin's first time up at the blind. Around 2:45 we got a call from Greg Mikkelson who was trapping on his hill to say that they had just spotted a young female Peregrine falcon that flew past them and was headed our way. Sure enough, a few minutes later, that same peregrine showed up over the barn and passed to the South of us. It is always nice to see a peregrine. We closed down at 4:30 and went in to Do North Pizzaria in Two Harbors for supper.

We got a total of 3 birds and 0 bounce-outs on Saturday.
3 Sharp-shinned hawks.

On Sunday morning, Rick and I loaded up the banding gear in his truck and, along with Emily's group who had camped out at Hawk Harbor, got started at 7:30. There was a slight wind blowing from the South but not a hawk was moving. At 8:38 we saw what looked like a young female Peregrine falcon flying South down Homestead Road. It didn't even give us a glance! Around 11:00 Chris Aleman and Greg Mikkelson came by. They had shut down their spot farther up the shore due to no birds. The only bird that came that day was a Blue jay that was packing his crop with corn. We did the Wish Bird Sign with our hands (putting our hands together to look like a hawk that we wish we had caught) and closed down at 5:00.

We got a total of 0 birds and 0 bounce outs on Sunday.
Skunked Day!

At 8:00 Monday morning, my long time falconry friend Larry Miller and his wife Jude came all the way from the Chicago area to do some banding with me. We had everything set up and ready to go at 9:30. The wind was light out of the South with scattered showers. Not so good for banding! We sat in the blind all day watching a few kestrels work the draw. At 1:57 one of them came in and hit the net but bounced out! Arrgh! Just when we thought we would get a repeat of Sunday, a young male Northern Goshawk popped up over the draw at 2:16 and started chasing a kestrel. It dogged the kestrel for a few wild gyrations around the sky and then went to perch in a spruce on the North side of the field. I pulled the lure line and it came right in. Thank God! Not another Skunked Day!!! The sky started looking pretty menacing with big thundershowers so we closed down at 3:30. Later, I met Larry at the Culvers near Miller Hill Mall for supper and drove back to Hawk Harbor that night in a deluge of rain with flash flood warnings.

We got a total of 1 bird and 1 bounce out on Monday.
1 Northern Goshawk.

It rained hard all night and Tuesday morning it was still coming down in sheets so I called Larry to say we should postpone starting until after the rain stopped. It didn't quit until noon. Jude and Larry arrived around 1:00. I tried to drive the banding gear up to the blind, but my minivan bogged down in the mud before I got half way up the field. After rocking it a few times and spraying mud all over trying to get it out, we left the van and carried everything up to the blind. We set up the nets in a swampy mess and at 1:30 we were ready to start banding. A few showers still lingered but then the wind started blowing hard from the West. Around 2:00 Dave Gilbertson came up. Dave is another long-time falconry friend and had been a regular for many years at the banding station on Hawk Ridge.

When the wind finally dried up the rains and cleared the sky, loads of birds started getting up and migrating. We caught an adult female shin that was hunting the draw at 2:28. At 2:40 a larger bird came powering low through a gap in the draw and shot right into the front net. Only after it had hit the net did we realize it was an adult male Peregrine falcon that was already banded! It had a color-marked band on one leg and a regular band on the other. Jackie Fallon had banded this bird near Two Harbors, before it fledged, a year earlier. WOW!!! We marked down the band numbers, took a bunch of photos and Larry let it go.

Before Dave left around 4:00 he used his four-wheel drive SUV and a tow belt to get my car moving so I could drive it back down and onto the road. We caught one more shin and had a shin bounce out before we closed down for the day at 5:00. Jude and Larry drove back into Duluth for supper while I stayed at Hawk Harbor. I had a cookie and a soda for supper and went right to bed. I was muddy, knackered, and glad to be in a dry sleeping bag.

We got a total of 3 birds and 1 bounce out on Tuesday.
1 Peregrine falcon and 2 Sharp-shinned hawks.

Wednesday morning at 8:00, Nancy and Chuck met Jude, Larry and me at Hawk Harbor. We carried the gear up to the blind, as the field was still soaked. At 8:30 we were ready to go. In the next hour we caught 2 shins, banded them, and were ready to release them when David and Nikki Schotzko came up with their kids, Leo and Duncan. This was the first time that Chuck's grandsons were at the blind and ready to help grandpa Chuck catch some hawks.

While the Schotzko family manned the blind, I took Jude and Larry on a sightseeing tour up the North Shore of Lake Superior. We stopped at Palisade Head, Split Rock Lighthouse, Gooseberry Falls and at Russ Kendall's fish shop in Knife River, Minnesota. When we got back, Chuck and family had caught 2 Red-tailed hawks and another shin. Soon after, they packed up and headed home. Jude, Larry and I stayed and caught 1 more Red-tailed hawk before closing down at 5:00.

We got a total of 6 birds and no bounce outs on Wednesday.
3 Red-tailed hawks and 3 Sharp-shinned hawks.

Total for the long weekend was 13 birds and 2 bounce-outs.
8 Sharp-shinned hawks, 1 Northern Goshawk, 1 Peregrine falcon and 3 Red-tailed hawks.

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. An adult Peregrine Falcon that was already banded.
Fifth Weekend 2017


02. Young male Northern Goshawk.
Fifth Weekend 2017


03. Adult Sharp-shinned hawk, first bird of the weekend.
Fifth Weekend 2017


04. Frank banding the shin.
Fifth Weekend 2017


05. Rick releasing the shin.
Fifth Weekend 2017


06. Frank, Troy, Katherine, Abbey, Erin, Emily and Rick, Saturday afternoon.
Fifth Weekend 2017


07. An old shin.
Fifth Weekend 2017


08. A young shin.
Fifth Weekend 2017


09. Comparing female adult and young shins.
Fifth Weekend 2017


10. Old shin left, young shin right.
Fifth Weekend 2017


11. Rick releasing the shins.
Fifth Weekend 2017


12. The only bird that came in on Sunday was a Blue Jay, to steal some corn.
Fifth Weekend 2017


13. Frank, Chris, Greg, Abbey, Erin, Katherine, Emily and Rick doing the "Wish Bird Symbol".
Fifth Weekend 2017


14. A Northern Goshawk, the only bird we caught on Monday.
Fifth Weekend 2017


15. Frank banding the Goshawk.
Fifth Weekend 2017


16. Frank, Jude and Larry holding the Goshawk on a very rainy Monday.
Fifth Weekend 2017


17. A young male Northern Goshawk.
Fifth Weekend 2017


18. Jude and Larry about to release the Goshawk.
Fifth Weekend 2017


19. Jude and Larry releasing the Goshawk.
Fifth Weekend 2017


20. A Tuesday afternoon Sharp-shinned hawk.
Fifth Weekend 2017


21. Larry and Dave holding the Sharp-shinned hawk.
Fifth Weekend 2017


22. Dave releasing the shin.
Fifth Weekend 2017


23. An adult male Peregrine falcon that was already banded.
Fifth Weekend 2017


24. An adult male Peregrine falcon that was already banded.
Fifth Weekend 2017


25. Frank holding the adult Peregrine falcon.
Fifth Weekend 2017


26. Adult male Peregrine falcon.
Fifth Weekend 2017


27. Dave holding the Peregrine.
Fifth Weekend 2017


28. Larry about to release the Peregrine falcon.
Fifth Weekend 2017


29. Dave and Larry releasing the Peregrine.
Fifth Weekend 2017


30. An adult Sharp-shinned hawk on Wednesday morning.
Fifth Weekend 2017


31. Grandpa Chuck getting hawk spotting help from grandsons Duncan and Leo.
Fifth Weekend 2017


32. Chuck, Nancy, Maggie (the dog), Larry, Nikki, Duncan, Jude, Leo, and David with two shins.
Fifth Weekend 2017


33. Nikki and David doing a double shin release with sons Duncan and Leo.
Fifth Weekend 2017


34. An adult Sharp-shinned hawk.
Fifth Weekend 2017


35. Leo releasing the shin.
Fifth Weekend 2017


36. Larry and Jude up on Palisade Head with Shovel Point in the background.
Fifth Weekend 2017


37. Larry and Jude at Split Rock Lighthouse.
Fifth Weekend 2017


38. Jude and Larry at Gooseberry Falls.
Fifth Weekend 2017


39. Wednesday afternoon Red-tailed hawk.
Fifth Weekend 2017


40. Frank banding the Red-tailed hawk.
Fifth Weekend 2017


41. Molting tail feathers.
Fifth Weekend 2017


42. An adult Red-tailed hawk.
Fifth Weekend 2017


43. Jude and Larry releasing the Red-tailed hawk.
Fifth Weekend 2017

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.