Fourth Weekend of Banding 2022

Hello Everyone, 

This is my fourth report of the 2022 banding season, covering the weekend of September 24th, 2022.

I drove up to Hawk Harbor on a rainy Friday to meet Michelle Cook and some of her Northern Saw-whet owl banding crew. They got there at 1:00 pm, knowing that they would have to clear some lanes through the Hawk Harbor woods for the nets before starting to band that night. This same group was up last year and caught 13 owls. The rest of the team arrived around 6:30 pm and they set the nets to start at 8:00 pm. Rain was forecast for later that night, but started earlier than predicted, forcing them to shut down early. However, they did catch one owl before closing down due to rain.

Saturday, September 24th

Rick and Chuck met me at Hawk Harbor Saturday morning at 8:00 am. Nancy and Trudi had other commitments that weekend. Todd, who had come up the night before, went over to set up his rig at the Hawk Harbor trapping site. Falconers Mattie and Curt also showed up to meet and help Brian, a falconer from the Chicago area, who had obtained a Minnesota Peregrine Take permit. They came up to help him try for a bird at their sites. Brian also brought along his daughter Clodagh and his son Niall. After introductions, Chuck and I loaded up Rick's truck and the three of us drove out to the banding station in the Mattson hay-field. It was a heavily overcast day with mist and light rain and slight winds from the south-east. We got started around 9:30. 

Just after we got started, Clodagh and Niall came out to spend the day with us, while Dad Brian headed off to Curt's site. A heavy mist shrouded the field and nothing was moving. At 10:30, Todd caught the first bird of the weekend, a young male Sharp-shinned Hawk. We banded it, took photos, and Clodagh released it.

The heavy mist persisted all day and bird movement was very slow. However, we did catch every bird we saw between noon and 3:00: four shins and a Merlin. Niall got to release the Merlin. Around 3:30, Michelle's owl banding crew came up to sit in at the main blind before starting off for supper and coming back to do their owl banding work in the Hawk Harbor woods. Sorry to say, we didn't catch any birds while they were there. We closed down at 5:30.

When we all got back down to the campsite at Hawk Harbor, the owl banding crew left for supper and the falconers had just returned with great news! Brian had filled his permit with a beautiful young male peregrine! 

Jackie Fallon was up doing programs for the 50th Year Celebration going on at Hawk Ridge and she planned to camp for the night at our place. We chose Culver's in Two Harbors for supper and returned to Hawk Harbor later for a great campfire and to toast Brian's success. The owl team stayed out in the "on again, off again", light rain until they had to close down around 11:00 pm, with no owls banded that night. 

We got a total of 5 birds and no bounce-outs on Saturday. 

4 Sharp-shinned Hawks and 1 Merlin. 

Sunday, September 25th 

Sunday morning, the skies cleared up and the wind started shifting to the northwest. We loaded up the banding gear into Rick's truck and set off. We opened the blind and reset the nets for an 8:30 am start. Just before we got going, Sarah Howe, a biologist who lives in Duluth, came up to spend the day with us. Sarah's dad, John Howe, is the director of the Raptor Resource Project (https://www.raptorresource.org/) that operates the world famous Decorah Eagle Cam along with various other raptor conservation programs. Jackie Fallon, vice-president of the Midwest Peregrine Society (https://midwestperegrine.umn.edu/), also came up to spend some time with us before heading off to do more programs for Hawk Ridge.

What a difference a day makes! Our first bird on Sunday was an adult female Cooper's hawk that came in from the north at 8:26. We banded it, took photos, and Sarah released it. A Great Start! After that, lots of hawks started getting up and moving over us. Right away we caught eight Sharp-shinned hawks, and had one bounce out, by 10:30 am! 

Around that time, members of Michelle's owl banding team started showing up. At 11:00, we caught an adult Broad-winged hawk. We banded it and Chuck showed it to the group for photos before Sarah released it. Michelle had been up to the blind several times years before and each time we had been "skunked". This was her lucky day! The shins kept pouring in and everyone in the owl group got to release birds. I had hoped that banding all these birds would make up for the bad weather and lack of owls down at Hawk Harbor woods. 

Later, falconer Eric Schraeder came up and he got to release a shin. Don Mattson, owner of the farm we have been trapping on for the last 53 years, also stopped by and he got to release a bird. All in all, it was the best day we have had so far at the blind this season. 

We got a total of 24 birds and 2 bounce-outs on Sunday. 

22 Sharp-shinned hawks, 1 Broad-winged hawk and 1 Cooper's hawk. 

29 total birds for the weekend. 41 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

1. Lots of Sharp-shinned hawks this weekend.

2. We caught a Merlin on Saturday.

3. First bird on Sunday was a Cooper's hawk.

4. We caught a Broad-winged hawk on Sunday.

5. One half of the Friday night owl banding team.
Left to right: Kelly, Erik, Rod, and Becky.

6. The other half of the Friday night owl banding team.
Left to right: Linda, Emily, Laura, and Michelle.

7. The first bird of the weekend was a young Sharp-shinned hawk that
Todd caught down at Hawk Harbor.

8. An adult Sharp-shinned hawk.

9. Clodagh, Frank, Niall, and Chuck with a shin.
Photo by Rick DuPont

10. Niall and Clodagh with a shin.

11. Niall and Clodagh releasing a shin.

12. A Merlin

13. Clodagh and Niall holding the Merlin.

14. Clodagh and Niall releasing the Merlin.

15. Michelle's owl banding team doing the "Wish Bird" sign.
Left to right: Michelle, Linda, Alisha, Kelly, Erik, Laura, Rod, and Emily.

16. First bird on Sunday was a Cooper's hawk.

17. Rick, Sarah, Chuck, and Jackie holding the Cooper's hawk.

18. Sarah holding the Cooper's hawk.

19. Sarah releasing the Cooper's hawk.

20. A Broad-winged hawk.

21. Chuck banding the Broad-winged hawk.

22. Chuck showing the Broad-winged hawk to the group.

23. The owl banding crew and Sarah with the Broad-winged hawk.

24. Sarah and the owl banding crew releasing the Broad-winged hawk.

25. Another Sharp-shinned hawk.

26. Michelle holding the Sharp-shinned hawk.

27. Michelle releasing the Sharp-shinned hawk.

28. Another shin.

29. Linda holding a shin.

30. Linda releasing the shin.

31. A young Sharp-shinned hawk.

32. Rod holding a shin.

33. Rod releasing the shin.

34. Alisha with a grin and a shin.

35. Alisha releasing a shin.

36. Erik and Kelly holding shins. 

37. Erik and Kelly releasing shins.

38. Another shin.

39. Falconer friend Eric holding a shin.

40. Eric releasing the shin.

41. Another shin.

42. Don Mattson holding a shin.

43. Don releasing the shin.

44. Dad Brian, with daughter Clodagh and son Niall, holding the peregrine
that they caught at another site, filling their peregrine permit.

Third Weekend of Banding 2022

Hello Everyone, 

This is my third report of the 2022 banding season, covering the weekend of September 17th, 2022.

Nancy, Chuck, and Trudi all had other things they needed to do this weekend. Rick and I were still going to go north, but after looking at the weather reports, I called Rick to say "Don't bother driving up." I went up Friday morning anyway, just to see if it would get any better; it didn't! It did however give me some time to make improvements to the electrical hook-up at Hawk Harbor. Todd also showed up late Friday night with his camper, thinking that on Saturday there might be an improvement in the weather. When we checked the forecast on Saturday morning, it called for rain off and on all day, so we both packed up our vehicles and got an early start for home.

Due to a rained out weekend, we are still at only 12 total birds for the season.

Strong Easterly winds and rain make the North Shore not a fun place to be. Being older and wiser, we do not attempt any banding operations during these conditions.

While having nothing to report this week, I thought it might be interesting for you to see the evolution of banding blinds we have come up with over the years.

Evolution of My Trapping Blinds

1970 to 1978 This was the first blind that I designed and used in the Mattson hay-field. It was made from a card table frame with no top and had burlap bags hung on all sides. Set on top of that were triangular plywood panels hinged with leather straps, so they could be folded down. It also had hinged plywood cut-outs that acted as windows and could be raised or lowered by a string attached to each window cover. There was seating for only one person, but it could be easily folded up and carried out into the field.

1979 to 1985 My second blind was designed to be made from one sheet of 4' x 8' plywood that was cut into four pieces that could be folded down into a flat 4' x 4'. It had holes cut in front for windows and used a single broom-stick to hold up the roof. A camouflage cloth was draped around the back to complete the hide. There was seating for two people and it could be easily folded down and carried out into the field.

1986 to 1990 My third blind was designed to slide on its back, into the bed of my Ford F-150 pick-up truck. It was 3' x 6' and 4' tall. It had a solid floor, front, back, and roof. Two 2 x 4s stuck out from the floor on the door side as handles, and it had notches in the floor frame on the other end made to fit an axel with two wheels. There was seating for three very good friends. The idea was that one person (with great difficulty) could lift the end with the handles and pull it out into the field.

1991 to 2022 My brother Tony designed and built our current blind. It is 8' x 6' and 6.5' tall. All the windows are set at my eye height while standing or sitting. It is a two-level blind with standing room for four and sitting room for three. It is stationary and is left in place all year round.

    View of the inside of our latest blind.

    Sometimes when the blinds are all full, Trudi and I go out and sit in what we call our "living" 

    room.

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