Hello Everyone,
Saturday, October 12th
My friend Bruce Haak came in from Idaho this weekend to spend some time with us at our banding station on the North Shore. Bruce is a well known falconer and was a raptor biologist for the State of Idaho. He has also authored several books on raptors. Rick and Todd were already up there. Because of the heavy rains predicted for Saturday, we decided we would tour Duluth, Hawk Ridge, and Two Harbors for the day instead of getting soaked at the banding station. Later we got all our gear stowed at Hawk Harbor and had a nice campfire before retiring for the night.
Sunday, October 13th
The wind and rain lashed at us all night long, and was still going strong when we got up Sunday morning. The rain was predicted to continue until noon, so we packed up and headed into Two Harbors to have a nice breakfast at Judy's Cafe. Brynn came out from Duluth to meet us at noon and help with the banding.
When it quit raining, we set up the banding station and started looking for migrating raptors. Our first bird of the day came in around 12:30 pm. It was an adult Red-tailed Hawk that was passing to the South of us, over Hawk Harbor. Rick pulled the lure and it came right in. We banded it, took some photos, and Brynn released it.
Our second bird of the day came in about a half an hour later. It was a young Red-tailed Hawk that came down to take a shot at our fake owl and started getting mobbed by a Kestrel. Rick worked the lure and the red-tail locked on with the Kestrel in tow. We banded that one and Rick released it.
Most of the migrating raptors were catching thermals and going up out of sight for the next two hours. Just then, I happened to notice a small falcon coming into the field at "break neck" speed from the North. Rick made a fast grab for the lure line, got its attention, and it swung right into the front net! We banded it, took photos, and I got to release it.
The next bird came in about a half an hour later. It was an adult Red-tailed Hawk that was passing to the South of us. At the last second, it turned and surprised us by shooting in along the tree line, passing close in front of the blind, and slamming into the net! While we were banding that one, four young lads came hiking up to cut across the field and were surprised to run into our banding station. We gave them a quick migration talk, showed them the red-tail we had just caught, and then had one of them release it.
Our last bird of the day was a young male Merlin that was out at the end of the draw buzzing some crows. It took a while to get his attention, since he was having so much fun making the crows' lives miserable! Once he saw the lure, all his vigor was focused on it, and he did the typical Merlin blast across the field and into the front net! When we pulled it out of the net, we noticed that it was already banded! We took down the band number, took some photos, and Bruce released it.
We got a total of 5 birds and 0 bounce-outs on Sunday.
3 Red-tailed Hawks and 2 Merlins.
Monday, October 14th
Monday looked like it was going to be a great day for banding. There was some frost on the ground, the wind was right, the skies were clear, and we watched a beautiful sunrise from the blind! We sat in that blind from 8:00 am to 3:00 pm without catching a single hawk. Our friend Ernie and his daughter Amber came up along with our other friend Bruce from Duluth, but they didn't get to see any birds get caught. A couple hawks came in to take a look, but none of them hit the net. Many were passing over us, but at a terrific height, almost imperceptible, even through binoculars. We checked the weather forecast for Tuesday and it predicted a similar weather pattern for that day as well. So we closed down and headed home.
0 birds on Monday.
A Skunked Day!
5 birds for the weekend.
62 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
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| 01. Stopping by Hawk Ridge with Ernie, Erik, Frank, and Bruce. |
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| 02. Our first bird of the weekend, a Red-tailed Hawk. |
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| 03. Brynn, Rick, Bruce, and Frank holding the red-tail. |
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| 04. Frank banding the red-tail. |
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| 05. An adult Red-tailed Hawk. |
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| 06. It had one unmolted tail feather. |
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| 07. Brynn holding the red-tail. |
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| 08. Brynn releasing the red-tail. |
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| 09. A young Red-tailed Hawk getting chased by a Kestrel as it came in. |
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| 10. Brynn and Bruce holding the young red-tail. |
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| 11. A young Red-tailed Hawk. |
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| 12. Feather pattern on the back of the red-tail. |
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| 13. A young Red-tailed Hawk. |
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| 14. Rick holding the red-tail. |
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| 15. Rick releasing the Red-tailed Hawk. |
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| 16. An adult male Merlin checking us out. |
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| 17. An adult male Merlin. |
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| 18. Frank banding the Merlin. |
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| 19. An adult male Merlin. |
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| 20. An adult male Merlin. |
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| 21. Frank releasing the Merlin. |
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| 22. Another adult Red-tailed Hawk coming in. |
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| 23. Frank banding the red-tail. |
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| 24. Bruce holding the red-tail. |
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| 25. Four youths who came hiking up past the blind. |
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| 26. One of the young guys got to release the red-tail. |
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| 27. A young male Merlin was our last bird of the day. |
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| 28. Frank and Bruce with the Merlin. |
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| 29. A young male Merlin. |
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| 30. Bruce holding the Merlin. |
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| 31. Bruce releasing the Merlin. |
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| 32. Monday morning sunrise. |
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| 33. A Northern Harrier was one of the few hawks we saw that day. |
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| 34. The Northern Harrier diving at our fake owl. |
