Sixth Weekend of Banding 2025

Hi Everyone,

This is my sixth report of the 2025 banding season, covering the weekend of October 11th, 2025.

Sunday, October 12th, 2025

Trudi and I drove up to Hawk Harbor Saturday evening after stopping at Sapsucker Farms near Pine City for the Minnesota Falconer's October meeting. Thank you, Debbie and Jim Morrison, for hosting the meeting. Rick and Brynn went up earlier that weekend to set up nets so that we would be ready to start right away on Sunday morning.

We were at the banding blind and ready to start at 8:00 am Sunday morning. Winds were predicted to be out of the Southeast with scattered light showers all day, not very promising for banding. We didn't see anything moving until 8:30 am, when a very dark-eyed adult female Sharp-shinned hawk started buzzing the fake owl out in the draw. Rick worked the lure, it peeled off the owl, and came in flying low, right into the front net. Yeay!!! We are not skunked today! We banded it, took photos, and Trudi released it.

We sat there staring at the empty sky for another two hours until an adult male Merlin stooped into the field from the North and started making several passes at the fake owl! After venting its anger at the fake owl, it shifted its attention toward our lure and powered into the front net. Adult male, or "Jack", Merlins are so incredibly beautiful! We banded it, took some photos, and Brynn released it.

Around 11:00 am, we had a Merlin shoot into the field from the farm and make a pass at our lure, but it missed the net and took off toward the South. An hour and a half later, we had a shin come in from the North; it made a few passes over the nets, and then took off into the woods behind us. Rain showers threatened us all afternoon but didn't amount to more than a slight drizzle. At 12:45 pm, we saw a Peregrine falcon coming toward us from the farm. It seemed to be on a migration mission and proceeded South of us down the road in front of Hawk Harbor without giving us so much as a glance. We saw one more peregrine that day around 4:00 pm. That one came straight at us and passed over the blind without dipping a wing! We closed down at 4:30 pm, just in time before the heavier rains started.

We got a total of 2 birds and no bounce-outs on Sunday.

1 Sharp-shinned hawk and 1 Merlin.

Monday, October 13th, 2025

Rick, Trudi, and I headed back up to the banding station hoping to catch an early hunting shin. Brynn had to work and couldn't come out that day. The weather looked promising, with clear skies and Southwest winds 10 to 12 miles per hour. We got in the blind and were ready to go at 7:45 am.

Things looked really good for banding that day and birds were getting up all around us. However, they were mostly Bald eagles, Ravens, Crows, Turkey vultures, and adult Sharp-shinned hawks that started soaring high up on thermals. By the time they passed over us, they were way too high to lure down.

An hour after we started, we saw a Sharp-shinned hawk flying low enough to look like it might be catchable. Rick started luring and while we were concentrating on the approaching shin, a female Merlin shot in right under our noses from the South. WOW!!! Not skunked today! We banded it, took some photos, and I did the release.

Around 10:00 am, we were sitting there watching every raptor in sight circling up to the heavens in a clear blue sky, with no chance of luring them down. Just then, we saw a hunting Sharp-shinned hawk moving low over the pines to the North of us. Rick pulled the lure and it "locked on"! The little adult male shin made a nice long slating stoop right into the front net! We banded it, took some photos, and Rick released it.

We started seeing a few Red-tailed hawks going over high up. We hadn't seen any red-tails since the one we caught on our first weekend of banding. At 12:15 pm, we had a low flying red-tail lock-on from out over the road to the East of us. It came straight in but at the last second pulled up and sat in the trees above the blind. What we didn't see was another red-tail that had come in from the South and over the tree line behind us. We all jumped in surprise as it swooshed down, right in front of us, into the net!

When we pulled that red-tail out of the net, we noticed it had some pure white feathers and light colored talons. My expert birding friends suggest this condition is called "leucism". We banded it, took LOTS of photos, and Rick released it.

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

1 Merlin, 1 Sharp-shinned hawk and 1 Red-tailed hawk.

We tried something new for us this weekend. I have had some bands that are used for Saw-whet owls for a while and never seemed to have the time to try out owl banding. We have had other owl banders set up at our place in the past with some success, so we thought we might try it ourselves. Brynn researched all the technical information and technique required to get started, so we set up one test net and caught four Northern Saw-whet owls.

9 total birds and no bounce-outs for the weekend.

65 total birds for the season.

Side Note: Our Hawk Harbor neighbor Don texted me some photos that he took of a large male Black bear that keeps coming into his yard to eat apples off his trees! This bear shakes the tree and then lays down in front of the pile of apples and scoops them into his mouth. Don wanted us to be "bear aware" in case it wanders through Hawk Harbor!

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

01. Adult female Sharp-shinned hawk.

02. Frank, Trudi, Brynn, and Rick with the shin.

03. Brynn banding the shin.

04. Adult Sharp-shinned hawk.

05. Trudi with the shin.

06. Trudi releasing the shin. Photo by Rick Dupont.

07. An adult male Merlin.

08. Frank, Trudi, Rick, and Brynn with the Merlin.

09. Frank banding the Merlin.

10. An adult male Merlin.

11. Brynn holding the Merlin.

12. Brynn releasing the Merlin. Photo by Rick Dupont.

13. Peregrine falcon passing to the South.

14. Peregrine falcon coming straight at us.

15. A Monday morning sunrise.

16. A female Merlin.

17. Frank banding the Merlin with encouragement from Rick.

18. Trudi and Rick with the Merlin.

19. A female Merlin.

20. Frank holding the Merlin.

21. Frank releasing the Merlin.

22. An adult male Sharp-shinned hawk.

23. Rick holding the shin.

24. Rick releasing the shin.

25. A Red-tailed hawk pulling up into the trees.

26. Red-tailed hawk with white feathers coming in.

27. A Red-tailed hawk with white feathers coming in.

28. The Red-tailed hawk.

29. Back view of the Red-tailed hawk with white feathers.

30. Frank banding the red-tail.

31. Trudi, Rick, and Frank with the red-tail.

32. The Red-tailed hawk.

33. It had some light colored talons.

34. Rick holding the red-tail.

35. Rick releasing the red-tail.

36. Back view of the departing red-tail.

37. Frank and Brynn getting a Saw-whet owl out of the net.

38. Brynn with a Saw-whet owl.

39. A Saw-whet owl. Photo by Brynn Olsen.

40. A banded Saw-whet owl.

41. Front edge of the owl's feathers that deadens sound.

42. Trudi and Brynn holding a Saw-whet owl.

43. A big male Black bear reaching for apples in Don and Carol's yard.

44. The bear laying down near the apple pile and scooping them in.