Hello All,
This is our eighth report of the 2026 banding season, covering the weekend of October 24th, 2026.
This is our 57th consecutive season of trapping raptors on the Mattson’s hay field!!!
Trudi and I met Rick up at Hawk Harbor on Friday to set nets and be ready for Saturday morning. Later we went in to the Culvers in Two Harbors for supper.
Saturday, October 24th
Saturday morning the winds were predicted to be out of the west-north-west but very light. The skies were clear and the cold front wasn‘t supposed to arrive until that evening. So, instead of getting out early to look at an empty field, we decided to go back in to Two Harbors and have a nice warm breakfast at Judy’s Cafe. Brynn met us when we got back to Hawk Harbor and then we went out to the banding station. The nets were already up so it didn’t take us long to get started at 8:45 am.
Lots of Ravens and Crows were moving about with an occasional Bald Eagle looking for thermals out over the field. Around 10:00 am we started seeing some Red-tailed Hawks going over. We hadn’t seen many for the last week or so at our place. Almost all of them were adults and paid no attention to us. A few Sharp-shinned Hawks started getting up as well, but again, most of them were adults that just passed right over us.
At 10:20, we spotted a raven-like bird coming straight at us from over the farm. The wing beat looked a little too snappy for it to be a Raven and as it came closer we could see it was a large adult female Peregrine Falcon! It made a classic straight in, wing-pumping approach! Just when we thought we had that one “in the bag“, it veered off, made a couple passes out in front and then pulled up and sat in the trees behind the blind.
At 11:00 am, we had a Sharp-shinned Hawk make a long slanting approach from the farm and hit the front net! Yay! We are not skunked! As we pulled the shin out of the net, we saw the peregrine that had been sitting in the trees above us take off and land in the spuces to the north of us. It sat there watching us as Brynn banded and released the shin. Later, we had another shin come in at 11:30 am, but it bounced out.
After we had all settled back into the blind, the peregrine that had been sitting in the spruces all this time decided to make another few passes out front, but still wouldn‘t commit. Then it flew off and seemed to disappear. We had some eagles and some red-tails come over just to have a look, but no takers. As we were looking around for more hawks, we spotted the peregrine sitting in a tree on the north side of the field behind the spuces! That peregrine came in again for the third time, made a few passes out front and then settled back in the trees above us! A little while later, Rick saw it make a pass down through the trees, but it flew over the back net and then back up into the trees. Finally, it decided to act like a goshawk and make a dive through the woods, straight into the back net at 12:10 pm! We banded it, took photos, and Rick released it after he had spent almost two hours of trying to catch it.
We hadn’t seen many birds going over since noon, so at 3:00 pm we closed down.
We got a total of 2 birds and had one bounce-out on Saturday.
1 Sharp-shinned Hawk and 1 Peregrine Falcon.
Sunday, October 25th
The cold front passed through Saturday night, but the winds were almost non-existent. We decided to grab another warm breakfast before heading out to the blind, and McDonalds filled the bill. Brynn came back out from Duluth and met up with us to get started. We were ready to go at 9:00 am.
We saw more and more red-tails getting up, but again hardly any immys. At 10:30 am, we spotted a young Red-tailed Hawk looking for a thermal up near the farm house. It started circling up in a thermal and when it was well up and over Hawk Harbor, it broke out of the soar and started a long flapping glide toward the blind. A little ways out, it set its wings and made a straight shot into the front net! We banded it, took some photos, and Trudi released it. We didn’t see much else that day except a Shrike and some deer that walked out across the field. Mr. and Mrs. Mattson stopped up for a visit and shortly after that we closed down for the weekend at 4:30.
We got a total of 1 bird and no bounce-outs on Sunday.
1 Red-tailed Hawk.
3 total birds for the weekend.
183 total birds for the season.
(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. Adult female Peregrine Falcon coming in.
02. Peregrine Falcon getting closer.
03. Peregrine landing in spruce north of us.
04. Just sitting there watching us.
05. An adult Sharp-shinned Hawk coming in.
06. A Sharp-shinned Hawk.
07. Trudi, Brynn, Rick, and Frank with the shin.
08. An adult Sharp-shinned Hawk.
09. Brynn banding the shin.
10. Brynn releasing the shin.
11. A banded Sharp-shinned Hawk.
12. The peregrine taking another shot at us!
13. The peregrine making passes out in front.
14. We saw some eagles.
15. Red-tailed hawks started moving through.
16. We spotted the peregrine sitting in a tree on the north side of the field!
17. The peregrine making a few more passes.
18. It sat in the trees behind the blind.
19. Brynn, Frank, and Rick taking the peregrine out of the net.
20. Brynn, Frank, and Rick with the peregrine.
21. It came in from the woods behind the blind, like a goshawk!
22. An adult female Peregrine Falcon.
23. An adult female Peregrine Falcon.
24. An adult female Peregrine Falcon.
25. Frank, Trudi, Brynn, and Rick with the peregrine.
26. Frank and Trudi with the peregrine.
27. A Peregrine Falcon.
28. Back view of the peregrine.
29. Brynn holding the peregrine.
30. Front view of the peregrine.
31. A Peregrine Falcon.
32. Rick about to release the peregrine.
33. Rick releasing the peregrine.
34. A Sunday morning sunrise over the Mattson’s field.
35. We saw some more eagles.
36. A Rough-legged Hawk buzzing the fake owl.
37. A young Red-tailed Hawk catching a thermal.
38. A young Red-tailed Hawk coming in.
39. Getting closer!
40. A young Red-tailed Hawk.
41. Trudi recording and Brynn measuring the red-tail.
Brynn banding the red-tail.
43. Rick, Brynn, Trudi, and Frank with the red-tail.
44. A young Red-tailed Hawk.
45. Back view of the red-tail.
46. Frank and Trudi with the red-tail.
47. Trudi about to release the red-tail.
48. Trudi releasing the red-tail.
49. The banded red-tail on its way.
50. Don and Mary Mattson stopped by the blind.
