Fourth Weekend of Banding 2013

Hi All,

Here is my fourth report of the banding season for the weekend of September 21, 2013.

Chuck and Nancy stayed up last weekend and banded on Monday, September 16th, and then Chuck came back on Friday, September 20th. On Monday, they caught 6 Sharp-shinned hawks and 1 Merlin with 2 bounce outs. On Friday Chuck caught 9 Sharp-shinned hawks with 1 bounce out. Nice to have part of our team able to work the weekdays!

Midweek total was 16 birds and 3 bounce-outs.

1 Merlin and 15 Sharp-shinned hawks.

On Saturday morning, September 21^st, Trudi and I drove up to the land to meet Chuck at 7:50. Rick had to work again on Saturday and Nancy was doing some things at home. Todd didn't come up either as he was out trying to get in one last weekend of fishing before putting his boat away for the season. Chuck met us at the campsite. He had already made one run up to the blind earlier to set up and had brought the old Dodge Caravan back down to the land for Trudi and me to pack in our gear. We all drove back up together and were set up and ready to go by 8:30.

The winds were medium out of the Northwest and the sky was clear. Right away at 8:40, two immy shins saw the lure and came shooting in together from out of the woods. The female went right over the top and the male just hooked the top of the front net. Our first bird of the day!  In the next ten minutes, a couple more shins came out of the woods, but both of them bounced out. In the next half hour we caught four more shins. We took some photos, and Trudi and Chuck did a quadruple shin release. After the shins left, one of the more opportunistic Blue jays in the area came in to feed on the corn we use to feed our pigeons.

After all that excitement, I took a walk down to the trapping site on our land. It had been raining off and on over the last week and a lot of "shrooms" (mushrooms) were popping out along the trail. A falconer friend, Mike Klimas, had obtained another Peregrine-for-falconry permit this year and was busy setting up his rig down on our land. I wanted to drive in some fence posts that I had brought along, to make sure the main lure pole would be where I wanted it, in case I come up in November to do some banding on that spot. I don't trap up at the main blind during deer season for obvious reasons (read severe lead poisoning). While we were doing that, Curt and Bobbi Ruthenbeck showed up. Curt also has a Peregrine permit and he and Mike were going to work together to try to get one (only one is allowed for Minnesota). Tasha Leong and Brian Brown also came up to help with the trapping operation. They all got settled in and I went back up to the main blind.

At 10:00 our good friends Marc and Jackie Rude arrived. The winds were blowing really nice out of the Northwest and shins kept coming in. We also saw a lot of Turkey vultures and Bald eagles, a few Broad-winged hawks and a couple Northern harriers. We did see one odd thing, an Osprey dive-bombing some crows. We caught four more shins and had four more bounce outs that day. Our last shin was caught at 2:17. We took a bunch of photos, did some releases and sat around till 5:00 when we shut down for the day.

During that afternoon Jackie and Trudi took a trip into town to pick up some things to put in a gift basket for Mr. Mattson. Later, Trudi and I took it down to the farmhouse, but Mr. Mattson had gone into town for lunch. Fortunately, his son Don was there mowing the lawn, and he let us in to put the goodies in the fridge, with a card saying thanks on the table.

We got a total of 9 birds and 6 bounce-outs on Saturday.

9 Sharp-shinned hawks.

After we closed down the blind for the night, Jackie, Marc, Curt, Bobbi, Chuck, Trudi and I headed over to Emily's Lighthouse Restaurant. Mike, Tasha and Brian stay back at the campsite. I ordered my 55th hot meatloaf sandwich with fried onions, mushrooms and an extra bowl of gravy. After hearing my usual loud praise of that wonderful dish, Marc said to the wait staff, in a "Harry Met Sally" verse, "I'll have what he's having!" After supper, we all went back to sit around a nice campfire before turning in. Marc and Jackie left for home after the fire died down.

A beautiful full moon came out that night and on Sunday morning the skies were clear blue with a slight and variable breeze. Trudi, Chuck and I went up to open up the main blind, we fixed a cup of hot chocolate, and were ready to go at 7:30. At 7:34 a hunting shin came in low and slow from the draw, but it bounced out! Arrgh!

Around 9:00, MaryBeth Garrigan and her daughter Rowan came up. MaryBeth is one of our pioneer woman falconers and worked with me at The Raptor Center when I was there years ago. Later she became the first Director of the National Eagle Center in Wabasha, Minnesota. MaryBeth's husband Mark passed away suddenly on July 17th of this year; he would have turned 50 on September 19th. We caught a couple shins and before anyone else came up, MaryBeth and Rowan each released a shin in honor of Mark's birthday. It was a vey moving and emotional experience to share with such great friends

We caught one more shin that day and it was a good thing, too, because Jennifer Baines Vieth, who is the Director at the Carpenter Nature Center and her two children, Vincent and Katie, came up to see us. Jen brought us some of the apples the nature center is famous for and a couple loaves of banana bread that she baked. Thank you, Jen! Vincent and Katie are two of the cutest kids you will ever meet and because they are the offspring of a naturalist (Jen) and a falconer (Greg), they know more stuff about natural things than most adults I have met. It was a real treat showing them how we do what we do and seeing their enthusiasm for everything going on around them. Also they have been out duck hunting with Dad and were good as gold in the blind. We saw one Peregrine falcon pass by South of us at 11:15.

At 10:00 my longtime "Duluthian" friend Jen Harner came up with her boyfriend Jim. Jen stops by every year and always brings me a surprise, usually hidden under some tasty treat. This time it was a collector's china plate with a picture of the Santa Fe Super Chief passenger train on it. Thanks, Jen (also, the cookies were delicious)! Did I mention that I am also into trains? Nancy got there about the same time as Jen and Jim; she and Chuck were planning on staying on and banding through Tuesday. It was getting pretty slow as the winds had switched around and were blowing hard out of the Southeast, so around noon I took all our visitors down to the car to give them my little migration talk and hand out to each one, a raptor identification sheet, some bookmarks and signed prints of my artwork before they left.

Trudi and I were packed up and just about to leave when Troy Holkestad drove up with his Dad, Ken Holkestad. Ken has been a falconer since the early sixties and used to come up to visit with Bob Widmiere, a world famous falconer from the forties, who lived near by. Ken is also a bander and has had his site for many years up on Moose Mountain. His daughter Tammy Holmer is now helping him out with the banding at his site on Moose. We made a fast trip up the field to give Ken and Troy a tour of our blind in the old Dodge.

We left Chuck and Nancy to finish out the day while Trudi and I headed home.

We got a total of 3 birds and 2 bounce outs on Sunday (by the time we left at 1:00).

3 Sharp-shinned hawks.

Total for the weekend was 12 birds and 8 bounce-outs.

12 Sharp-shinned hawks.

Grand Total for the year is 75.

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. First bird on Saturday was a young male Sharp-shinned hawk.

Fourth Weekend 2013.

02. Banding the Sharp-shin.

Fourth Weekend 2013.

03. Young male Sharp-shinned hawk doing the "Year Book" pose.

Fourth Weekend 2013.

04. Trudi holding the shin.

Fourth Weekend 2013.

05. Trudi about to release the shin.

Fourth Weekend 2013.

06. Trudi releasing the shin.

Fourth Weekend 2013.

07. Our local Blue jay helping himself to the pigeon's corn.

Fourth Weekend 2013.

08. "Shrooms" growing behind the nets.

Fourth Weekend 2013.

09. More "shrooms" down along the field.

Fourth Weekend 2013.

10. Close up of a "shroom".

Fourth Weekend 2013.

11. Adult Sharp-shin taking "a look".

Fourth Weekend 2013.

12. Immature shin, "Coming In" pose.

Fourth Weekend 2013.

13. Immy Sharp-shinned hawk.

Fourth Weekend 2013.

14. Trudi and I holding four shins.

Fourth Weekend 2013.

15. Adult Sharp-shinned hawk.

Fourth Weekend 2013.

16. Chuck and Trudi getting ready to do a four-shin release.

Fourth Weekend 2013.

17. Chuck and Trudi doing a four-shin release.

Fourth Weekend 2013.

18. Adult Sharp-shinned hawk.

Fourth Weekend 2013.

19. Close up of sharpy face.    

Fourth Weekend 2013.

20. Trudi and I holding a couple more shins.

Fourth Weekend 2013.

21. Marc, Jackie, Trudi and I posing with shins.

Fourth Weekend 2013.

22. Marc releasing a shin.

Fourth Weekend 2013.

23. Adult female Sharp-shinned hawk doing a "Coming In" pose.

Fourth Weekend 2013.

24. Adult shin doing a "Hollywood" pose.

Fourth Weekend 2013.

25. Jackie, Marc, Chuck and Trudi holding up a shin.

Fourth Weekend 2013.

26. Jackie and Marc with a shin.

Fourth Weekend 2013.

27. Jackie holding a Sharp-shinned hawk.

Fourth Weekend 2013.

28. Jackie and Trudi getting ready to do a double release.

Fourth Weekend 2013.

29. Jackie and Trudi doing a double release.

Fourth Weekend 2013.

30. Mike, Bobbi, Trudi and Curt posing with the dogs at the campsite.

Fourth Weekend 2013.

31. Curt and Bobbi scanning the skies.

Fourth Weekend 2013.

32. Curt and Bobbi.

Fourth Weekend 2013.

33. Natasha, Brian and Mike setting up down on our land.

Fourth Weekend 2013.

34. Me and Don Mattson at Mr. Roy Mattson's farmhouse.

Fourth Weekend 2013.

35. Sunday morning sharpy doing the "Coming In" pose.

Fourth Weekend 2013.

36. MaryBeth and Rowan watching Chuck take a shin out of the net.

Fourth Weekend 2013.

37. Adult shin doing the "Coming In" pose.

Fourth Weekend 2013.

38. Showing Rowan how to hold the shin.

Fourth Weekend 2013.

39. Me, MaryBeth, Rowan and Trudi with shins.

Fourth Weekend 2013.

40. Adult Sharp-shin face.

Fourth Weekend 2013. 

41. MaryBeth and Rowan about to release shins in honor of Mark.

Fourth Weekend 2013.

42. Rowan and MaryBeth releasing the first shin.

Fourth Weekend 2013.

43. MaryBeth and Rowan releasing the second shin.

Fourth Weekend 2013.

44. Immature Sharp-shinned hawk doing the "Coming In" pose.

Fourth Weekend 2013.

45. Giving Vincent and Katie a close look at a Sharp-shinned hawk.

Fourth Weekend 2013. 

46. Rowan, MaryBeth, Vincent, Jennifer, Katie, Chuck and Trudi with a shin.

Fourth Weekend 2013.

47. Vincent, Jennifer and Katie about to release a shin.

Fourth Weekend 2013.

48. Vincent, Jennifer and Katie releasing the shin.

Photo by Trudi (with Vincent's camera).

Fourth Weekend 2013.

49. Jim, Jen and me.

Fourth Weekend 2013.

50. Trudi, me, Ken, and Troy near my blind.

My blind is located next to the birch trees just above Trudi's head.

Fourth Weekend 2013.

51. Me and Ken.

Fourth Weekend 2013.

52. A couple of old hawk trappers "out standing" in their field.

Fourth Weekend 2013.