Third Weekend of Banding 2025

Hi Everyone,

This is my third report of the 2025 banding season, covering the weekend of September 21st, 2025.

Sunday, September 21st, 2025

Sunday morning, I met Rick up at Hawk Harbor around 9:30 am. (The forecast for Saturday was for rain off and on all day so we decided Sunday and Monday would be the best days for banding this weekend.) About the same time as I got to Hawk Harbor, Brynn from Duluth came by to help us for the day. Trudi had things to do and couldn't come up this weekend. We drove up to the banding station and had everything ready to go by 10:15.

The rain had just stopped and everything was soaked with a low hanging fog. The skies were still very overcast and the wind was light out of the Northeast. Our friend Erik, who is an incredible owl photographer, had called earlier in the week to see if he could stop by. He arrived just as we were settling in. At 10:15, we saw a sharp-shinned hawk take a shot at our fake owl. Rick worked the lure and it came flying toward us very slowly. It seemed to hesitate just before hitting the front net and bounced out! Arrgh!!! Well anyway, we got to see a hawk come in.

Around 11:30, we saw a line of seven cars pull up down on the end of the road. A bunch of birders got out and started scoping the field. I went down to see who they were and saw that it was Bill Tefft, who was leading a group from Hawk Ridge's Hawk Weekend Festival. I told them about our banding work and that I was sorry I couldn't have them stop up at the blind. With so few birds moving, I didn't want to risk missing one. So instead, I got out some of my art prints and handed them out.

Just after noon, we saw our second shin of the day. It was starting to "thermalize" (my made up term for hawks attempting to soar up in a thermal), Rick pulled the lure, the shin broke out of the thermal, and came shooting straight in! But, at the last second, it flared up over the net and landed in the woods behind us. Rick did a little wiggle magic with the lure and the shin shot into the mist net. Yay, our first bird of the weekend and we are not skunked today! We banded it, took some photos, and Erik got to release it.

It was a very slow day for seeing hawks and the next one we saw was another shin that started attacking the fake owl at 12:45. It saw our lure and made a fast and low approach right into the front net! We banded that one and Brynn got to let it go.

It looked like there were no more hawks moving anywhere near us that day, so we were surprised when a Cooper's hawk came in and started bombing the fake owl around 1:30. Rick worked the lure and the coops "locked on". It came in fast, hit the front net, and we had our third and last bird of the day. We stayed and kept trying to spot some hawks coming over until 5:00 pm, with no luck, so we closed down and went in to Culver's in Two Harbors for supper.

We got a total of 3 birds and one bounce-out on Sunday.

2 Sharp-shinned hawks and 1 Cooper's hawk.

Monday, September 22nd, 2025

Monday morning, Rick and I headed back up to the banding station thinking our best chance of catching anything might be a shin out hunting the draw. We were set up and ready by 7:15 am. It was so foggy, you couldn't see the other end of the field. The fog was supposed to lift around 10:00, but it never did. Instead we had light East winds and a heavy mist that got everything wet.

Around 8:00, we heard a ruckus in the draw to the North of us. A shin was sparring with a Blue Jay, chasing it around the bush. Rick worked the lure and it left the jay and came down the tree line right into our front net. Yay, we are not skunked today!! We banded it, took some photos, and Rick released it.

We didn't see another hawk for about an hour and a half. Just then, fast as lightning, a Merlin took a shot at the fake owl and was ready to blast out of view, when Rick used his cat-like reflexes, grabbed the lure line, and turned the Merlin. It powered straight in to the front net!!! We banded it, took some photos, and Rick released it.

The fog kept waving over us and the mist was almost turning into rain, blowing straight into our faces on an Easterly wind. At 11:15, we saw a flock of crows flying over the pines North of us and just above them was a smaller bird that looked out of place. It was a shin trying to "thermalize" in the mist. Rick worked the lure and the shin made a spectacular stoop from high over the pines right into the front net!! That was our third and last bird of the day. We closed down at noon and headed home.

We got a total of 3 birds and no bounce-outs on Monday.

2 Sharp-shinned hawks and 1 Merlin.

6 total birds and 1 bounce-out for the weekend.

34 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!