Hello Everyone,
This is my first report of the 2025 banding season, covering the weekend of September 6th, 2025.
After doing some preliminary clean up and repair to the banding station last weekend, Trudi, Rick, and I went up to Hawk Harbor and got ready to start our 56th YEAR in a row banding raptors at our blind on the Mattson Farm hayfield!!!
Saturday, September 6th
Trudi and I met Rick at Hawk Harbor around 10:00 am. We loaded his truck and headed up to the banding station in the Mattson hayfield across the road from Hawk Harbor (our land). The setup went fairly quickly since we had already had all the cleanup work done last weekend.
We rigged the nets and entered the blind to start looking for birds at 11:15 am. Skies were partly cloudy and the winds were light out of the West-North-West. The first bird we spotted was a shin out over the draw at noon. Rick pulled the lure and it came right in, but it slowed up just before hitting the net and bounced out, arrrrg! Twenty minutes later, we saw another shin diving at the fake owl. Rick pulled the lure, it locked on right away, and hit the net dead center! Yeay! We got our first bird of the season, a young female Sharp-shinned hawk!
While were banding the first shin, another one passing to the North of us saw the lure and and came straight in. We banded that one and then Trudi and Rick released the two shins. About 20 minutes later, another young female shin came in and I got to release that one. Our next bird was a female Merlin that came in to buzz the fake owl. It ignored us as it made a few more passes at the owl and then left the owl and shot right into the front net. We banded it and Rick released it.
Around 1:30, it started raining so we pulled out the big tarp and covered up the blind except for the lower windows and sat it out. The rain lasted only about 45 minutes and then we were back in business. Just after the rain quit, we spotted another shin passing high over Hawk Harbor. Rick did his magic with the lure and it started towards us. This one acted more like a goshawk than a shin. It accelerated toward us just inches over the hay stubble and hit low in the front net!
Half an hour later, around 2:15, we were luring for a shin out front when a sudden whoosh in front of the blind turned out to be a huge young female Red-tailed hawk! It came in so hard that it pulled the net right off the pole! We banded that one, took some photos and Rick released it.
We caught two more shins that day. The last one came in while I was still out standing in the field fiddling with my camera. Rick hollared "FREEZE" and the shin flew in right past me and into the net!
We closed down at 5:30 pm, and headed into the Culver's in Two Harbors for supper.
We got a total of 8 birds and one bounce-out on Saturday.
6 Sharp-shinned hawks, 1 Merlin, and 1 Red-tailed hawk.
Sunday, September 7th
Sunday morning we got out to the blind and were set up around 7:30 am. The winds were out of the Northwest but very light and the temperature was around 48° and rising. The sky was clear blue with not a cloud in sight. We didn't expect to see many hawks migrating as this was the end of the cold front that had been passing through.
Our first bird of the day, around 7:35 am, was a young female Sharp-shinned hawk that came in over the draw and shot into the front net. Yeay, no "skunked" day this weekend! We banded it, took photos, and Rick released it. While we were out taking photos of the first shin, a second shin came right over us and Rick made a dash to pull the lure. It banked over, stooped in past us, hit the net but bounced out! We caught two more shins in the next few hours, both young females. Then a ruckus was taking place out by the fake owl. It was a bunch of crows mixing it up with a young Broad-winged hawk. Rick pulled the lure, the crows took off and the broad-wing came in at the lure. However, just at the last second, it decided to land in the tree above the lure and just look at it.
Around noon things had pretty much dried up and we were not seeing any migrating hawks. And, just like fishing, when you think nothing is biting, a young male Merlin came in and started attacking the fake owl. Rick pulled the lure and it powered into the front net! Male merlins are so small, it's hard to hold them down low where you can't get bitten while trying to band them. This one was an exceptionally determined biter. It was a good thing that it was just our team at the blind today, as I turned the air a bit blue with my painful out-cries while the merlin chewed on my fingers. We got it banded, I stopped bleeding, we took some photos, and Rick released it.
We closed down and headed home at 12:30.
Note: All 9 of the shins we banded this weekend were young females!
We got a total of 4 birds and one bounce-out on Sunday.
3 Sharp-shinned hawks and 1 Merlin.
12 total birds for the weekend.
12 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 and Frank Taylor
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| 1. Trudi and Rick with his truck all packed up and ready to head up to the blind. |
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| 2. Our first bird on Saturday was a young female Sharp-shinned Hawk. |
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| 3. Rick and Frank taking the shin out of the net. |
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| 4. Frank banding the shin. |
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| 5. Another young female shin. |
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| 6. Trudi and Rick with shins. |
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| 7. Rick and Trudi releasing the shins. |
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| 8. Frank with another young female shin. |
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| 9. Frank releasing the shin. |
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| 10. Our first Merlin of the year. |
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| 11. Trudi and Rick with the Merlin. |
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| 12. A female Merlin. |
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| 13. Rick releasing the Merlin. |
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| 14. Into each life a little rain must fall. |
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| 15. Another young female shin. |
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| 16. Rick and Trudi with the shin. |
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| 17. Trudi releasing the shin. |
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| 18. A young female Red-tailed Hawk. |
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| 19. Frank taking a photo of Rick with the red-tail. |
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| 20. Frank holding the red-tail. |
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| 21. A young female Red-tailed Hawk. |
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| 22. Rick releasing the red-tail. |
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| 23. Another young female shin. |
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| 24. And another young female shin. |
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| 25. Trudi and Rick holding the shins. |
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| 26. Trudi and Frank holding the shins. |
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| 27. Trudi and Frank releasing the shins. |
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| 28. One of the many Turkey vultures that passed by. |
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| 29. Sunday morning sunrise. |
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| 30. Trudi all bundled up and looking like a little woods gnome. |
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| 31. A Sunday morning shin coming in. |
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| 32. Another young female shin. |
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| 33. Rick pulling the shin out of the net. |
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| 34. Our little gnome recording the data. |
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| 35. The shin's left-overs from breakfast. |
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| 36. Another young female shin. |
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| 37. Frank, Trudi, and Rick with the shin. |
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| 38. Rick releasing the shin and getting photo bombed by a dragonfly. |
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| 39. Just having a look at the menu. |
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| 40. A young Broad-winged Hawk came in for a look. |
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| 41. A Yellow-shafted Flicker landed nearby. |
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| 42. A young male Merlin. |
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| 43. Frank and Rick taking the Merlin out of the net. |
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| 44. Frank setting up for a photo. |
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| 45. Frank, Trudi, and Rick with the Merlin. |
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| 46. Trudi taking a picture of Frank with the Merlin. |
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| 47. Frank with the Merlin. |
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| 48. A very nippy little Merlin. |
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| 49. Frank releasing the Merlin. |
