Eighth Weekend of Banding 2023

Hello Everyone,

Here is my eighth report of the 2023 banding season, covering the weekend of October 21st, 2023.

Saturday, October 21st

Another rainy Saturday was in the forecast for the North Shore, so Trudi and I decided we would take our time and leave home around noon. We would stay overnight at Hawk Harbor and get an early start on Sunday morning. On the way up we stopped at the Pine City MacDonalds for a snack and a walk-around to stretch our legs. As I was doing a circuit around the car, I spotted a screw sticking in the right front tire! The air was still holding in the tire and I didn't want to unload everything from the car to change it. So, we drove through town to see if we could find a place that could fix it. Nothing was open so we continued on out to the Walmart Automotive Center. They were very busy and said it would take over two hours to get us in. They suggested that as long as the tire was still inflated we should drive up to Slim's Auto Repair in Hinckley, 12 miles up the road. When we got to Slim's, the mechanic was out on a road call and might not be back for an hour or so. They suggested that we stop by the Cenex station a few blocks up the road as they have a small shop and a mechanic on duty. I pulled into the Cenex and went in to see what they could do. Kurt, the mechanic, was just about to leave, but said he would take a look. It took him only a few minutes to fix the tire and we were back on the road. Needless to say the tip I gave him was three times what he was going to charge us for the service!

Later we met Rick at Hawk Harbor, and since it was still raining, we went into town and had supper at Judy's Cafe. (At Judy's, I had another delicious hot hamburger sandwich with fried onions and extra gravy!)

Sunday, October 22nd

When we got up, it was still pretty wet out so we took our time getting the banding station set up. It looked like a perfect day for migrating birds! It was cloudy and there was a slight North wind. We were ready to start just after 8:00. Right after we started, a lone coyote stepped out on the North side of the field, just visible through a gap in the draw. Other than the coyote, nothing else was moving!

We sat there watching an empty sky until 9:30, when Dave, a photographer from Rochester, MN, came up to visit, hoping to get some shots of incoming hawks. Dave is a good friend of my brother Dan and has been up before. We all watched the empty sky for a little while more, and then Eric showed up. Eric brought all his fancy camera gear out as well, hoping to get some great shots. Eric is the son of Nancy who I worked with at The Raptor Center years ago. They have been regular visitors to the blind for many years. Later we saw a few shins going over and an eagle or two, but nothing gave us even a glance. This was our second "Skunked Day" of the year. We closed down at 2:15.

We got a total of 0 birds and no bounce-outs on Sunday.

2nd Skunked Day of the year!

Monday, October 23rd

Instead of setting up on a cold damp morning with little prospect of catching an early bird due to the South winds, we decided to go have a warm breakfast at Judy's Cafe in town. That was nice!

It was almost 10:00 by the time we got going on Monday. The sky was still overcast but was supposed to clear up by noon. Dave had stayed over at Hawk Harbor and was still full of high hopes for getting some good photos. I think somebody turned the migration switch to TOTALLY OFF!!! We saw a couple of Northern Harriers, a few shins, and some eagles but none of them were interested in our set up. A shrike came in to hunt the draw and buzzed our fake owl. Just as we were thinking of closing down, a single Rough-legged Hawk pulled up in the trees at the other end of the field. It sat there for what seemed like forever while Rick tried every trick he knew to lure it in. Finally, the hawk saw our lure and made for us. We all held our breath, hoping it would hit the net, but at the last second, it pulled up into the tree above us. We tried mouse calls, lure wiggles, everything we could think of to lure it in. After all our efforts, it just hopped into the air, did few circles above us, and headed down the shore. We closed down at 12:30 with our 3rd "Skunked Day" in the books.

We got a total of 0 birds and no bounce-outs on Sunday.

3rd Skunked Day of the year!

0 total birds for the weekend.

Still 91 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!