Ninth Weekend of Banding 2012

October 27th, 2012

Hi All,

Here we go with my ninth report of the banding season for the weekend of October 27th, 2012.

Trudi and I met Rick and Chuck at the Burger King on London Road in Duluth at 7:15 am. Nancy had stayed home this weekend to get the house ready for winter. We all had a little bite to eat and headed up to the land. Todd had come up on Friday to set up and was ready to go when we arrived at 8:00 am. Ben Ohlander had also come up earlier and was there to spend the day with Todd down at his site.

We transferred all the trapping gear from Trudi's mini-van into my mini-van (we leave mine up on the land) and drove up to the main blind. Rick and Chuck worked on the nets; Trudi and I set up the blind. We had everything set and ready to go at 8:45 am. The skies were clear with no wind at all. At 9:35 am, an adult Red-tailed hawk was spotted making a dive towards our fake owl, Rick pulled the lure line, and the tail transferred its attention to the lure. It came in sort of slow and cautious, but drove right on into the net instead of pulling up like they usually do when they come in slow. Our first bird of the day, a nice adult Red-tailed hawk! Chuck banded it up and we took a load of photos. Trudi got to let it go.

Around 10:45 am, our friend Marc Rude came up with his good friend Jim Beaudoin and Jim's friend Ed Durose. Jim and Ed are both very accomplished wildlife artists.  Jim won the Alaska duck stamp art competition in 1988 and Ed won the Minnesota duck stamp art competition in 1994. They were hoping to get a glimpse of a Northern Goshawk. A bunch of eagles, rough-legs and red-tails were moving through but nothing was in a good position to lure in. At 1:58 a young male Goshawk popped up to the north of us and locked on to our lure. Jim and Ed got a good look at a Northern Goshawk as it pumped in on a shallow dive right into the net. Chuck banded it and we all took turns posing with a nice young gos. Ben even came up from Todd's to take a look at it. Jim got to release the gos; I think that's a little better deal than just getting a glimpse of one.

Around 3:00, my youngest brother Mike came up with his oldest son Stephen, who is a student at the University of Minnesota. At 3:08 another Goshawk, this time a large young female, popped up to the north of us, turned when it saw the lure and barreled right into the net. Chuck banded it and we all got some shots of us holding this big beautiful doll. Ed was chosen to release this one. Rick took some very nice slow motion shots with his camera and we all got a kick out of seeing the gos power up in super slow motion. Speaking of slow motion, the migration had all but stopped when Marc, Jim and Ed decided to head back down to the cities. We didn't see anything else coming over so we closed down at 4:30.

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

1 Red-tailed hawk and 2 Goshawks.

When we headed back down to the campsite to see what the evening plans would be, Todd was fixing his supper on the grill and Stephen was thinking about having a pizza. So, Trudi, Rick, Chuck, Mike, Stephen and I jumped in our cars and headed for the Pizza Hut in Two Harbors. I felt a severe tinge of guilt for not having my usual hot meatloaf sandwich with fried onions and mushrooms, topped off with an extra cup of gravy, but, oh well. I ordered my second favorite meal of the north shore, Pizza Hut's spaghetti with meat sauce, add cheese on the garlic bread. I even talked Stephen into trying it. We got back to camp fairly early and just in time to see my brother Mike get a wonderful campfire going with ONLY ONE match!

Sunday morning Trudi, Rick, Chuck and I started a little later than usual, as this was our last trapping day of the season. We were back up at the blind and ready to go at 8:10 am. The sky was a bit overcast and there was no wind at all. Right after we had everything set up, I noticed a quivering motion from "Lovey Dovey", our mechanical dove. After 18 days of constant running, her nylon gears had stripped out. Chuck offered to perform emergency surgery, but I figured I would just pull the batteries and work on her in the off-season. Around 9:00 am we spotted a young Red-tailed hawk sitting on top of some pine trees down by the farm. Then it flew over to a spot we call "the crow tree". It sat there for a while and then flew over to a pine in the middle of the second draw way down at the other end of the field. It was ignoring our lure so we just let it sit for a while. I figured we had nothing to lose with this one so I asked the rest of the gang if I should try the dying rabbit predator call (not a pleasant sound experience if you happen to be in the blind when it is blown). I tried it once, Rick pulled the lure and at 9:20 am the young male Red-tailed hawk came straight across the field and right into the net. HOT DAMN! First bird of the day! Chuck banded it, we took some photos, and Trudi got to let it go.

At 9:56 we were all sitting there wondering where all the birds had gone when Rick spotted a large accipiter rowing along straight at us, but quite a ways out. Rick pulled the lure and the gos just kept coming straight on and on and finally, into the net. What a beauty! It was a second-year adult male Northern Goshawk. Chuck banded it and we all took a load of photos of that one. Chuck released it, but this time we had Rick positioned with his slow-mo camera so the gos would fly straight at him upon release. Worked like a charm! That was our last bird of the season. At 11:50 am a small adult male Sharp-shinned hawk make a pass at the lure but hit high on the net and bounced out. We were all straining to see if we could spot one more bird, when I saw a bunch of about ten party balloons very high up, floating down to the north of us. I guess that was the signal that the party was over and we should all head home. We closed down the blind at noon.

After we closed the blind, we went down to close up the campsite. Rick and Chuck helped us get everything covered up before they headed for home. Trudi and I stopped in to see Mr. Mattson before we headed out. We wanted to thank him again for letting us use his hayfield for the past 43 years. We gave him one of my red-tail prints and a gift basket of snacks, small compensation for what this great man has given for all of us. During WWII he served as a crewmember of a B-24 Liberator bomber. His plane was shot down over Europe and with the help of the French and Belgian underground, he avoided Nazi capture and made his way back to England. He will be 93 in February. I consider it a great honor to be his friend for these many years. He is truly an American Hero. THANK YOU, Mr. Mattson!!!

We got 2 birds and 1 bounce-out on Sunday.

1 Red-tailed hawk and 1 Goshawk.

Total for the weekend was 5 birds and 1 bounce-out.

3 Goshawks and 2 Red-tailed hawks.

Grand Total for the year is 87.

To see the photos for this report, please scroll down.

Please help hawks by supporting;

Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory (www.hawkridge.org)

The Raptor Center (www.raptor.cvm.umn.edu)

The National Eagle Center (www.nationaleaglecenter.org)

Keep your eyes on the skies.

Frank & Trudi Taylor

01. Adult Red-tailed hawk.

Ninth Weekend 2012.

02. Rick and Chuck pulling the red-tail out of the net.

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03. Chuck holding the red-tail.

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04. Chuck banding the red-tail.

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05. Adult Red-tailed hawk.

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06. Adult Red-tailed hawk.

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07. Rick, Chuck and me with the red-tail.

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08. Adult Red-tailed hawk.

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09. Trudi and I holding the Red-tailed hawk.

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10. Trudi releasing the red-tail (shutter was a bit too fast).

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11. Adult Red-tailed hawk.

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12. Red-tail looking at us from the north edge of the field.

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13. Young male Goshawk.

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14. Rick and Chuck pulling the Goshawk out of the net with Ed, Jim, and Marc watching them.

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15. Chuck banding the Goshawk.

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16. Young male Goshawk.

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17. Marc, me, Trudi, Jim, Ben, Chuck and Ed with the gos.

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18. Young male Goshawk.

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19. Marc, Jim, me, Ben, Chuck, Ed and Rick with the Goshawk.

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20. Young male Goshawk.

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21. Here I am holding the Goshawk.

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22. Young male Goshawk.

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23. Jim and Ed with the Goshawk.

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24. Ed holding the Goshawk.

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25. Jim holding the Goshawk.

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26. Jim getting ready to release the Goshawk.

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27. Jim releasing the Goshawk.

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28. Young female Goshawk.

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29. Chuck banding the young female Goshawk.

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30. Young female Goshawk.

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31. Rick, me and Chuck with the gos.

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32. Rick, me and Chuck holding the young female Goshawk.

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33. Young female Goshawk.

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34. I'm showing my nephew Stephen (brother Mike's son) how to hold the gos.

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35. Stephen holding the Goshawk.

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36. Uncle Frank, Stephen and Auntie Trudi with the Goshawk.

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37. Young female Goshawk.

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38. Ed holding the Goshawk.

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39. Ed getting ready to release the Goshawk.

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40. Ed releasing the gos.

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41. Young female Goshawk.

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42. Gathering around Rick to see his slow motion shot of the gos release.

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43. Stephen, Auntie Trudi and my brother Mike who started the campfire with only one match!

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44. Sunday morning Red-tailed hawk.

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45. Rick and Chuck pulling the first bird of the day, a young Red-tailed hawk, out of the net.

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46. Chuck banding the red-tail.

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47. Tail pattern of the young Red-tailed hawk.

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48. Trudi, Chuck and Rick holding the red-tail.

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49. Trudi holding the young red-tail.

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50. Trudi getting ready to release the young red-tail.

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51. Trudi releasing the red-tail.

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52. Young male Red-tailed hawk.

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53. Adult Goshawk.

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54. Rick and Chuck pulling the gos out of the net.

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55. Chuck banding the gos.

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56. Goshawk.

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57. Adult Goshawk.

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58. Over the shoulder pose.

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59. Goshawk close-up.

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60. Chuck releasing the gos.

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61. Goshawk!

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62. On our way home, we stopped in to visit with Mr. Mattson and thank him again for the 43 years of trapping in his hayfield. We gave him one of my art prints. He is truly a Great American Hero! During WWII he flew in a 

B-24 Liberator bomber, was shot down over Europe, avoided capture by the Nazis with the help of the French and Belgian underground and made his way back to England. His 93rd birthday will be in February. It is my great honor to have his friendship for all these many years.

Ninth Weekend 2012.

63. An ore boat leaving the harbor at Duluth, MN.

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64. Ships at anchor in the harbor waiting to load up with grain at Duluth.

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