Sixth Weekend of Banding 2021

Hello Everyone,

This is my sixth report of the 2021 banding season, covering the weekend of October 9th, 2021.

Friday, October 8th

Once again, we got caught in the seven-day wet weather cycle for the North Shore. Both days for this weekend looked like rain and easterly winds, so we cancelled banding operations for the second weekend in a row. However, I decided to go up alone to Hawk Harbor on Friday to see if I could get the old riding mower working and do a few maintenance jobs between rain showers. Around noon, I put a recharged battery in the mower and it fired right up. I also pounded in a couple more fence posts up on Kinny Hill, at the falconer's site, so we could hang some camo-burlap to make a spotting blind. After that, I headed into Two Harbors to see if I could get some railroad photos.

Later, falconers Kenny, Bobbi and Curt came up to camp at Hawk Harbor and do some trapping between showers. Kenny went over to the falconer's site at Hawk Harbor while Bobbi and Curt went up to their spot several miles away. Nobody was having much luck that day, so Bobbi and Curt came back to Hawk Harbor to camp for the night. Kenny was still working his site when Curt and I were out talking at the end of our driveway. We saw a dark flash zip across the road from the hay-field and into Kenny's set. It made one more loop out over the road and then we saw nothing. So we walked up the road to the falconer's site and saw that Kenny had just caught a female Merlin. It was not a bird he was trying for, so he handed it to me and I banded it. We took some photos and Kenny released it.

My daughter and her family were in Duluth for the weekend. We were planning to have them come out to do some banding and have a campfire so the grandkids could roast some marshmallows. The good news for the kids was that the rain meant they could spend more time in the pool. We changed plans to see if a campfire would still work, but the fog rolled in so heavy that evening that we felt it would not be safe for them to drive up to Hawk Harbor. So, Bobbi, Curt, Kenny and I had a nice campfire to sit around before turning in. Later that night huge thunderstorms came in and took forever to move through.

Saturday, October 9th

No one got much sleep Friday night due to the storms, but we all were up and going around 7:30 am. I fixed some hot chocolate for everyone and then Bobbi and Curt went up to their site and I went with Kenny over to the falconer's site. I set up the spotting blind on Kinny Hill while Kenny manned the trapping blind down on the flats. The expected rain held off and we started seeing some shins get up and moving. It was pretty slow and I was tired, so I packed up to head home while Kenny stayed. On my way home, I stopped up at Hawk Ridge. I saw some friends there and a few birds were migrating by, including a Peregrine falcon.

1 Merlin for the weekend.

We are now at 156 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!

Trudi & Frank Taylor