Hello Everyone, (Scroll down to bottom of post to see photos)
Here we go again! This is my first report of the 2026 banding season, covering the weekend of September 5th, 2026.
This is our 57th consecutive season of trapping raptors on the Mattson’s hay field!!!
I drove up to Hawk Harbor on Friday, September 4th, to meet Rick at noon and then headed out to the blind to get the banding station cleaned up and ready to start banding on Saturday morning. Trudi had commitments to take care of, and stayed home for the weekend. Todd was up to try his luck over at the falconry trapping site at Hawk Harbor. Brynn came out from Duluth around 2:00 to help out as well. We finished up around 5:00 pm and went in to Perkins in Duluth to have supper.
Saturday, September 5th
Brynn, Rick, and I started banding operations for the season at 9:30 am. The weather didn’t look good for migration as the wind was out of the east-north-east and a hazy drizzle hung over the field.
Our first bird of the season was a Sharp-shinned hawk that hit the back net as it raced another shin to the lure! Great start to the season! We caught two more shins before noon. Just after noon, we had two Red-tailed hawks come in. One landed in the tree above the blind and while we were looking at that one, another red-tail blasted into the front net! Our next bird was a female Merlin. It shot in low from the north side of the field and hit the front net. Next we noticed a (larger than a shin) accipiter starting to soar up on the north side of the field. Rick pulled the lure and a Cooper’s hawk made a long slanting stoop right into the front net! Around 3:00 pm, we had a shin come in slow and high. It saw the nets, but still made five passes at the lure before hitting the back net and bouncing out! Another shin came in a few minutes later and hit the back net, also bouncing out! We caught five more shins before a small male shin hit the back net and bounced out. Ten minutes before closing down at 5:30 pm, another female Merlin came in low, past the fake owl, and hit the front net!
We closed down at 5:30 pm, and headed into Culver's in Two Harbors for supper.
We got a total of 12 birds and 3 bounce-outs on Saturday.
8 Sharp-shinned hawks, 2 Merlins, 1 Cooper’s hawk, and 1 Red-tailed hawk.
Sunday, September 6th
Sunday morning we started banding at 8:00 am. It was a beautiful sunny day, but the winds continued coming out of the east-north-east.
We caught two shins right away and got them banded. Then at 9:00 am, we had two more shins come in at the same time. They zipped around inside the nets, over the lure, and both of them hit the back net and then bounced out! We caught 4 more shins and had 2 more bounce-outs before noon. At noon, we saw a small buteo circling up at the far end of the field. Rick worked the lure and it broke out of its circle and made a nice legs-down stoop right into the front net! It was a young Broad-winged hawk! We started seeing more buteos getting up. A particularly large one was mounting up over the farm house at the far end of the field. I called out to Rick each time it circled around and was facing us. About the third time around, it flicked its wings once and locked on! It came in on set wings, and when it was on the final approach, down came the legs and it hit squarely in the front net! It was one of the biggest young light colored red-tails we have ever seen! We caught one more shin before another young red-tail came in and sat in the tree above us. A little more coaxing and BOOM, right into the back of the front net! We caught one more shin and had another one bounce-out before closing down at 5:30 pm.
We got a total of 11 birds and one bounce-out on Sunday.
8 Sharp-shinned hawks, 1 Broad-winged hawk, and 2 Red-tailed hawks.
Monday, September 7th
Just Rick and I stayed up to trap on Monday. We were back out to the blind and got started at 8:00 am. The morning was partly cloudy, and the wind was still coming out of the east-north-east.
The first hawk of the day, a little male Sharp-shinned hawk, came in at 8:31 am. It popped over the front net, hit the back net and bounced out! Aaargh!!! We didn’t have to wait long; we caught two more young female shins before 9:30 am. At 9:42 am we spotted a Merlin passing over to the north of us. Rick worked the lure and it came right in! After the Merlin, we had two more shins come in from the woods, but they both bounced out. Things really slowed down after that, but we did manage to catch one more shin at 11:30 am before closing down at noon.
We got a total of 4 birds and one bounce-out on Monday.
3 Sharp-shinned hawks and 1 Merlin.
27 total birds for the weekend.
28 total birds for the season (One other bird banded in May).
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. Our official net inspector came in for a look. |
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| 02. Inside look at our new camper trailer. |
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| 03. Setting up our banding station. |
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| 04. Rick and Brynn resting after the banding site clean-up. |
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| 05. A shin coming in. |
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| 06. A Sharp-shinned hawk, our first bird of the season. |
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| 07. A young Sharp-shinned hawk. |
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| 08. Brynn banding the shin. |
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| 09. A young Sharp-shinned hawk. |
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| 10. Brynn releasing the shin. |
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| 11. A shin came in for a look. |
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| 12. A shin going over. |
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| 13. Another shin looking us over. |
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| 14. A young Red-tailed hawk giving us a look. |
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| 15. Frank, Brynn, and Rick holding the red-tail. |
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| 16. A young Red-tailed hawk. |
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| 17. Brynn releasing the red-tail. |
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| 18. A Merlin hunting the field |
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| 19. Rick and Brynn holding the Merlin. |
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| 20. A female Merlin. |
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| 21. Rick releasing the Merlin. |
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| 22. A young Cooper’s hawk. |
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| 23. Frank, Brynn, and Rick holding the Cooper’s hawk. |
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| 24. A young Cooper’s hawk. |
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| 25. Frank banding the Cooper’s hawk. |
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| 26. Frank releasing the Cooper’s hawk. |
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| 27. Frank and the last-minute Merlin. |
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| 28. A Sunday morning sunrise. |
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| 29. Another shin coming in. |
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| 30. A shin looking us over. |
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| 31. A Sunday morning shin in hand. |
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| 32. Another young female shin. |
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| 33. A young Broad-winged hawk stooping in. |
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| 34. Frank, Brynn, and Rick holding the Broad-winged hawk. |
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| 35. A young Broad-winged hawk. |
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| 36. A young Broad-winged hawk. |
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| 37. Brynn releasing the Broad-winged hawk. |
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| 38. The Broad-winged hawk checking out its new jewelry. |
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| 39. Red-tailed hawks started getting up. |
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40. A Red-tailed hawk stooping in! |
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| 41. Frank, Brynn, and Rick holding a BIG young Red-tailed hawk. |
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42. A young, light-colored Red-tailed hawk. |
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43. Brynn holding another Red-tailed hawk. |
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44. Another Red-tailed hawk. |
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45. Rick releasing the Red-tailed hawk. |
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46. A young Sharp-shinned hawk. |
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47. A young Sharp-shinned hawk. |
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48. A Merlin coming in. |
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| 49. A male Merlin |
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50. Frank holding the Merlin. |
