Third Weekend of Banding 2018

Hello All,

Here is the report for the third weekend of our 49th year of hawk trapping at the Mattson Farm.

I drove up to Hawk Harbor by myself on Saturday morning to meet Rick there at 8:00 am. Trudi stayed home this weekend and Nancy and Chuck would not be able to get there until later in the day. Todd had camped at Hawk Harbor on Friday night and was set up at his blind by the time we arrived. Rick and I transferred the banding gear to his truck and we drove to the main blind to set up our rig. We had everything ready to go by 8:30.

It seems this season we just can't get a break from the migration gods. Every weekend so far we have had Easterly winds that push the migrating birds away from the shore and us. Northwest winds are the best for us, but so far they are not happening. A storm with high winds had passed through on Friday night and we were expecting strong Easterly winds all weekend.

At 9:30, Ron and Larry, two long time fishing friends from Wisconsin, who have been coming up for several years, brought up their friends Brent and David. We gave them a tour of the blind and explained how the nets work and then settled in to see if we might be able to catch a bird or two. All of them, being seasoned fishermen, understood that just because we didn't see anything in the sky didn't mean there was nothing out there to catch!

Around 10:00, we saw a few Turkey Vultures rising up and several American Kestrels came in to the field to sit on the round hay bales looking for crickets. At 10:15, our patience paid off and a Sharp-shinned Hawk that we didn't even see hit the net and we had our first bird of the weekend. Rick took it out of the net, showed it to the guys, and I banded it. We took a group photo and then played the "pick a number game" to see who would get to release it. David had "Beginners Luck" and won the release of that shin.

Our next bird came in at 11:30, a shin that had been chasing a kestrel around the fake owl. It spotted our lure and came straight in. Everyone in the blind got to see it come in across the field and hit the net. Brent was the only one left in that group who had never released a hawk before, so he was chosen to release that one.

About an hour later, seven or eight kestrels could be seen out in front sitting on the bales, the bushes, the trees, or hovering over the field. At 12:30, a Merlin came shooting into the field and started chasing the kestrels around. After several minutes of harassing the kestrels, it caught sight of our lure and came in fast and low, hitting the net hard. We banded it, took some photos and Larry released that bird. 45 minutes later, another Merlin came into the field to chase the kestrels around. This one was a little more cautious than the first Merlin. It made a fast pass in front of the net, circled out over the field and turned to make another pass, but came a little too close to the net and just barely caught itself high in the edge of the net. Ron got to release that one.

Fifteen minutes later we caught another shin. As everyone had already had a chance to release a bird, I showed the group how we sometimes hypnotize a hawk for release. You place the hawk on the ground on its back and quickly flash your other hand up in front of its face. As the hawk is focused on the hand in front of its face, you gently pull your other hand out from under it and slowly stand up, pulling the other hand away as well. The hawk will usually stay like this for a minute or two. But after a few seconds we reach toward it, clapping our hands, and it takes off for the woods.

At  2:30, we had a shin come in but it pulled up at the last minute and went into the trees behind the blind. It sat there for a bit sussing out the situation, then it made another try for the lure, hitting the back net and bouncing out! Arrrgh! It went back up into the trees and sat there for about five minutes before making another attempt and getting caught in the back net. David released that one. At 3:15, another Merlin came in to chase the kestrels, saw our lure and came straight in. Our third Merlin for the day! Brent released that one.

Chuck and Nancy came up a little later and the guys from Wisconsin took off for home. We sat in the blind for almost two hours without any action. Finally at 5:15, another Merlin zipped in and around the field, saw our lure, and came right in. Our fourth Merlin of the day! Rick took it out of the net, Chuck banded it, I took a bunch of photos, and Nancy released it. We closed down at 5:30. All in all, not a bad day considering we had strong Easterly winds.

We got a total of 8 birds and 1 bounce-out on Saturday.

4 Sharp-shinned Hawks and 4 Merlins.

Sunday morning we woke up at Hawk Harbor to a dense fog (and Easterly winds). Nancy, Chuck, Rick and I drove to the main blind and had everything ready to go by 7:30. We sat there staring at the fog for four hours with absolutely nothing moving except for the Blue Jays coming in to get some corn. Finally we spotted a lone kestrel sitting on one of the bales in the fog. She was happily hunting crickets, which she would fly down to the ground for, every few minutes. About that time the fog started to lift and a shin flew out from the North toward the fake owl in the draw. It took a shot at the owl, saw our lure, and came straight in. It hit the front net, knocking it down and Rick, even though he is faster than an Olympic sprinter, was not able to get there before it threw off the net and got away! Arrrgh! First bird to come in, and it's a bounce out!

At 11:45, Rick was redeemed, when another shin took a shot at the owl, saw the lure, and came straight in. Rick mustered every ounce of speed in his legs and bound out of the blind faster than lightning to secure the shin! First bird of the day in hand! Chuck banded it, I took photos, and he and Nancy let it go. We had one more shin come in from the trees behind us at noon, but it hit the back net and bounced out. Rick was ready when the next shin came by fifteen minutes later and caught that one.

Around 1:00, we were trying to lure some shins that were passing over toward the South when an adult Cooper's Hawk shot in from the North! Rick took it out of the net, Chuck and Nancy banded it, and I got to let this one go. We didn't see any birds after that one, so we closed down at 2:00.

We got a total of 3 birds and 2 bounce-outs on Sunday.

2 Sharp-shinned Hawks and 1Cooper's Hawk.

Total for the weekend was 11 birds and 3 bounce-outs.

6 Sharp-shinned Hawks, 4 Merlins and 1 Cooper's Hawk.

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)

The Midwest Peregrine Society (http://midwestperegrine.umn.edu/)

Keep your eyes on the skies!

Trudi & Frank Taylor

01. First bird of the weekend was a young female Sharp-shinned Hawk.

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02. Rick taking the shin out of the net.

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03. Rick showing the shin to Brent, David, Larry and Ron.

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04. Frank banding the shin.

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05. David, Brent, Frank, Ron and Larry with the shin.

Photo by Rick Dupont

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06. David getting ready to release the shin.

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07. David releasing the shin.

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08. Brent getting ready to release a shin.

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09. Brent releasing the shin.

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10. A female Merlin.

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11. Frank banding the Merlin.

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12. Ron, David, Rick, Brent and Larry with the Merlin.

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13. Larry about to release the Merlin.

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14. Larry releasing the Merlin.

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15. Our second Merlin of the day.

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16. Ron about to release the Merlin.

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17. Ron releasing the Merlin.

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18. Our third Sharp-shinned Hawk of the day.

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19. Frank showing Larry, Ron, Brent and David how to hypnotize a hawk.

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20. David about to release our fourth shin of the day.

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21. David releasing the shin.

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22. Our third Merlin of the day.

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23. Brent about to release the Merlin.

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24. Brent releasing the Merlin.

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25. Our fourth Merlin of the day.

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26. Chuck and Rick taking the Merlin out of the net.

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27. Chuck, Nancy and Rick banding the Merlin.

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28. Nancy Chuck and Rick showing us the Merlin.

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29. Chuck and Nancy about to release the Merlin.

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30. Chuck and Nancy releasing the Merlin.

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31. The view from the blind on a very foggy Sunday morning.

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32. A young female shin.

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33. Chuck banding the shin.

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34. Nancy, Chuck and Rick showing us the shin.

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35. Nancy and Chuck releasing the shin.

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36. An adult female Cooper's Hawk.

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37. Chuck banding the Cooper's Hawk.

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38. An adult female Cooper's Hawk.

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39. Frank about to release the Cooper's Hawk.

Photo by Chuck Schotzko

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40. Frank releasing the Cooper's Hawk.

Photo by Chuck Schotzko

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