Eighth Weekend of Banding 2021

Hello Everyone,

This is my eighth report of the 2021 banding season, covering the weekend of October 23rd, 2021.

Saturday, October 23rd

Nancy and Trudi stayed home this weekend, so I met Rick and Chuck at Hawk Harbor around 8:00 am. Todd came in a little later and set up at the falconer's site. Rick, Chuck and I loaded up the banding gear and went out to the banding station. We got started at 8:50 am. Winds were light out of the Northwest and the skies were clear.

Just after 9:00, our neighbor Don drove out to the middle of the field in front of us in his new four-wheeler and dropped off some fish scraps and suet chunks. He has done this several times before to attract scavengers, so whoever is visiting the blind gets to see a show of eagles, ravens and crows. It didn't take long before a bunch of scavengers dropped out of the sky. We ended up with six eagles, one Rough-legged hawk, a bunch of ravens and loads of crows coming in for the feast. This was a welcome distraction as we did not see many raptors coming over the station that day.

Our first and only bird of the day was a Red-tailed hawk that came in low from the fake owl. It hit the net at 10:37. We banded it took some photos and Chuck let it go. Red-tails, rough-legs and eagles were coming over in scattered waves but not in great numbers, and none of them right over us in a good position. A few came in for a close look but as Rick once said, "They seem to have commitment issues!"

Around 2:00 pm at the banding station, we saw a wolf come out on the north side of the hayfield, over on the other side of the draw. I grabbed my camera and ran towards it. I used the bushes in the draw, which were about half way to the wolf from the blind as cover, so I could get closer to it without being seen. When I popped up to get some shots from the draw, it perked up, took a look at me, and then started to come towards me. That's when the filming stopped and I legged it back to the blind! After seeing how fast I could run, the wolf turned around and faded back into the brush on the north side of the field where it came from. It had a bad left front leg and it was probably just trying to come over and have me fix it! I guess I missed a great opportunity to get to know a wolf, "A LOT" better!!! Just kidding, the wolves up there never bother people at all!

There was nothing moving after that so we closed down at 3:00. A few other falconers who were trapping at other sites came in to Hawk Harbor to have supper, camp for the night, and sit by the cozy campfire.

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

1 Red-tailed hawk.

Sunday, October 24th

Sunday morning I got up and fixed some hot chocolate for the crew and the falconers who were up trapping at other sites. They headed out and we loaded up Rick's truck and drove out to the main blind. Skies were cloudy and the wind had shifted around to the Northeast.

Two of the falconers, Kenny and Danny, came up to the banding station to see our rig. We had just finished setting up at 9:00, when we spotted a Rough-legged hawk way out to the north of us. Kenny and Danny took off for their site and we started luring for the rough-leg. At 9:02, it came blasting in from the north. Chuck and I missed seeing it come in as we were both looking up high to the north and it came in under where we were looking. We banded it, took some photos, and Chuck released it. That was it for the day! Rick was so happy that we at least got one bird and didn't get a "Skunk Day".

The only other action we saw that day was a young Red-tailed hawk that had spotted Todd's rig at Hawk Harbor and made a blistering shallow stoop across the other end of the hayfield! We watched it dive in from the main blind and thought for sure he had it. I even walked down to help him get it out of the net, but when I was almost there, I saw it ringing up over the road. It had stooped all the way in, only to pitch up at the last second and make a circle above the nets. Dang!!! Nothing else was moving so we closed down at noon.

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

1 Rough-legged hawk.

2 total birds for the weekend.

172 total birds for the season.

Please help hawks by supporting:

Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory (www.hawkridge.org)

Midwest Peregrine Society (https://midwestperegrine.umn.edu/)

National Eagle Center (www.nationaleaglecenter.org)

Raptor Resource Project (https://www.raptorresource.org/)

The Raptor Center (www.raptor.cvm.umn.edu)

Twin Cities Metro Osprey Watch (http://ospreywatch.blogspot.com/)

Keep your eyes on the skies!