North Shore Banding - Frank Taylor: 2026

Tuesday, October 20, 2026

Seventh Weekend of Banding 2026

Hello All,

This is my seventh report of the 2026 banding season, covering the weekend of October 17th, 2026.

This is our 57th consecutive season of trapping raptors on the Mattson’s hay field!!!

Rick went up on Friday noon to set up nets at the banding station. Trudi did one of her monthly programs for the seniors on Friday, so I helped with that and didn’t get up to Hawk Harbor until after dark.

Saturday, October 17th

Saturday morning the skies were clear and the wind was predicted to be west-south-west but light. Trudi stayed home this weekend and Brynn was spending the day in the Twin Cities, so it was just Rick and me at the banding station. Todd came out and was set up over at the falconer’s trapping site on our land. We moved into the blind, set the nets, and started looking for birds at 8:00 am.

To say things were slow that weekend would be an over optimistic assessment of the migration. We saw some shins, some eagles, and a couple harriers, but not many. Those that came near didn’t have any interest in our lure. We sat there for three and a half hours without a single bird coming in. Then at 11:30 am, while Rick and I were out in front of the blind standing in the sun trying to warm up, a young male American Goshawk came shooting out of the spruces on the north side of the field and made a shot at the fake owl! We scrambled back into the blind and Rick pulled the lure line. The gos peeled off the owl and shot low across the field, right into the front net!!! This was only our third goshawk in the last 6 years! We banded it, took some lots of photos, and Rick released it.

Don and Mary Mattson, the land owners, stopped by to see how we were doing after we had released the gos. We visited for a while and after not seeing any more hawks coming over, we closed down at 2:00 pm.

We got a total of 1 bird and had no bounce-outs on Saturday.

1 American Goshawk.

Sunday, October 18th

Sunday morning Rick, Todd, and I went in to Judy’s Cafe in Two Harbors for breakfast. Later, Brynn came out to Hawk Harbor and we loaded our gear into Rick’s truck and headed up to the blind. The winds for the day were more southerly and it showed in the few birds that we saw. We got started at 8:30 am. We did see some shins, some eagles, and a couple harriers that day. A few shins made low passes at the lure, but all pulled up at the last second. The high-lights of the day were seeing our first Rough-legged Hawks of the season and we spotted a shrike hovering over the bushes at the end of the draw. THAT WAS IT!!! We did the “Wish-Bird Symbol, (wished we would’ve caught a hawk), and closed down at 1:00 pm.

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

Skunked Day!

Only 1 bird for the weekend.

180 total birds for the season.

I stayed over Sunday night enjoying the new camper trailer. Rick helped me get it winterized and by driving home Monday morning, I missed all the weekend traffic.

(All birds are humanely captured, banded, and immediately released unharmed under a federal license issued by The U.S. Geological Survey through The Federal Bird Banding Laboratory.)

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. We caught only one bird all weekend!

02. The fake owl was the hero of the day!

03. A young male American Goshawk coming in.

04. An American Goshawk.

05. An American Goshawk.

06. Frank banding the goshawk.

07. Frank holding the goshawk.

08. An American Goshawk.

09. Frank and Rick with the goshawk.

10. Rick holding the goshawk.

11. An American Goshawk.

12. Rick about to release the goshawk.

13. Rick releasing the goshawk.

14. Don and Mary Mattson stopped by.

15. Sunday morning sunrise.

16. A few shins flew over but didn’t commit!

17. We saw some eagles going by.

18. Saw some harriers as well.

19. Saw our first Rough-legged Hawk of the year.

20. A little visitor to the station. Photo by Rick Dupont.

21. No Birds! Skunked on Sunday!

22. Frank, Brynn, and Rick doing the wish-bird symbol!

23. A Monday morning visitor to Hawk Harbor.

24. Trudi and I are enjoying our newer camper trailer.

25. A look inside.

26. Looking out at the fire pit.

27. Comfy sleeping arrangements.

Tuesday, October 13, 2026

Sixth Weekend of Banding 2026

Hello All,

This is my sixth report of the 2026 banding season, covering the weekend of October 10th, 2026.

This is our 57th consecutive season of trapping raptors on the Mattson’s hay field!!!

Rick went up early Friday to set up nets at the banding station. Trudi and I went up later that day and stopped by Brynn’s house in Duluth to pick up some gear.

Saturday, October 10th

We were not sure how good things would be this weekend for banding as the wind was predicted to be from the east-north-east. We met Brynn at Hawk Harbor and headed out to the blind. We set up the station and were ready to start by 8:00 am. Skies were clear with hardly a breeze blowing.

Our first bird of the day didn’t come in until 9:22 am. It was an adult Sharp-shinned Hawk that made a long shallow stoop in from the east and hit the front net. We were all glad to have our first bird of the weekend in the books! Around 10:30 am, our good friends Paul and Barb brought their grand-daughter Maya up to the blind. Maya is a student at UMD. Then a little bit later our nephew Stephen also came up to spend the day with us.

We didn’t see much moving at all until around 11:30 am, when a young shin came in from the south, giving everyone a good view as it passed right in front of the blind. However, it went over the front net, made a tight circle, and flew right into the back net. Maya got to release that one.

While we were waiting around to spot a hawk, we heard a sound growing louder as it came closer from behind the blind and grew to a loud roar! Just then a huge four engine C-130 military cargo plane passed over the blind at tree-top level heading east!!!

After that, things got really slow. It wasn’t until almost an hour later that another adult shin that was passing high overhead decided at the last second to take a shot at the lure. It came almost straight down in a verticle stoop right into the front net.

Stephen got to release that one.

By 1:00 pm, skies seemed to go completely empty, so Stephen and Paul’s family left around 1:30 pm and the rest of us decided to close down at 3:00 pm.

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

3 Sharp-shinned Hawks.

Sunday, October 11th

Overnight the winds had shifted around to the west-south-west, but on Sunday morning they were very light. We got started at 7:45 am thinking we might have a shot at any shins out hunting the brush. No Dice! We sat there looking at bare skies until 9:00 am when a little adult male shin came in and hit the front net after making a pass at the fake owl. Trudi and I did a release on that one.

At 9:30 am, Lynn and her husband Sean came up to the blind. Lynn has been coming up to the blind for many years and this day was her and Sean’s tenth anniversary. They both teach at St. Olaf College, and have been involved in raptor banding all over the world. We had all just settled back in the blind, when a Merlin decided to take a shot at the owl. Rick worked the lure and it shot right into the front net. Lynn let that one go.

A lot of shins started getting up but most of them were adults and passed right over us without giving us a second glance. Around 10:30 am, a little male shin came slowly in from the north, bumped the front net and then bounced out! We caught three more adult shins before catching an adult shin that was already banded!

We caught four more shins that day before closing down at 3:00 pm.

We got a total of 10 birds and had one bounce-out on Sunday.

9 Sharp-shinned Hawks and 1 Merlin.

13 total birds for the weekend.

179 total birds for the season.