Fifth Weekend of Banding 2013

Hi All,

Here is my fifth report of the banding season for the weekend of September 28, 2013.

Chuck and Nancy stayed up banding on Monday and Tuesday, (September 23rd & 24th) and then Chuck came back on Friday, (September 27th). On Monday, they caught 2 Sharp-shinned hawks and 0 bounce outs. On Tuesday they caught 1 Cooper's hawk and 1 Red-tailed hawk with 0 bounce outs. On Friday Chuck caught 1 immature female Peregrine falcon with 0 bounce outs. Way to go, Chuck!

Midweek total was 5 birds and 0 bounce-outs.

1 Peregrine falcon, 1 Cooper's hawk, 1 Redtailed hawk and 2 Sharp-shinned hawks.

On Saturday morning, September 28th, I met Rick at the Burger King on London Road. We had some breakfast and drove on to the campsite. Trudi and Nancy didn't come up as they had other things to do this weekend. Todd drove up on Friday and was all ready to go that morning. Greg Mikkelson had also come out on Friday to get set up at his place farther along the shore and was camping with us for the weekend. Curt and Bobbi Ruthenbeck arrived about the same time to camp at our place and were going to spend time at both Todd's site and Greg's place to see if they could fill Curt's Peregrine permit. Chuck was already up at the blind and had everything ready from the night before. He had already brought the old Dodge Caravan back down to the land for Rick and me to use. We loaded in our stuff and drove up to meet Chuck. We were all set and started at 8:20.

The winds were light out of the Southwest and the sky was overcast. Looking out over the open field, down towards the lake, you get a real sense of urgency for the migration. Hundreds of small birds were passing by, left to right, rising in flocks and singles, all heading toward the Southwest, to get around the lake. At 8:45, Chad Hines brought a vanload of students and alumni from Bethany Lutheran College. This year their trip was arranged through the Bethany Hawk Watch Group operated by Chad, in Mankato, Minnesota. This group originally started coming to see us in 2006 when my niece Sarah was in their Science Club. I met them at the road and gave them my little migration speech and then we all hiked up to the blind. The group knew the drill well and all got settled in quickly to look for hawks. Some individuals had been up four times or more and some were newcomers. We told the newbys they would bring us good luck. We packed as many as possible in the main blind and the rest moved to the "overflow area" nearby in the brush.

At 9:55 we caught our first bird of the weekend, an adult female Sharp-shinned hawk. It came in from out in the draw low and slow but hard enough to knock down the net. Many in the Bethany group are experienced hawk watchers and it wasn't long before they spotted a Merlin dropping into the far end of the field. Rick worked the lure and the Merlin drove hard into the net, right in front of the group. We caught two more shins; all the while the sky was threatening to start drizzling. We took a lot of photos in the bad light and then had the students do the releases. The group headed off for lunch and a trip up to Hawk Ridge around noon. Just after that it started raining hard while Rick, Chuck and I sat in the blind and wondered if it would continue. We hung out until 3:30 and then closed down for the day.

We got a total of 4 birds and 0 bounce-outs on Saturday.

1 Merlin and 3 Sharp-shinned hawks.

After we closed down the blind, we met up with the falconers and headed over to Emily's Lighthouse Restaurant for supper. Todd, Greg, Curt and Bobbi met Rick, Chuck and me at Emily's. I ordered my 56th hot meatloaf sandwich with fried onions, mushrooms and an extra bowl of gravy. Because it was my 64th birthday on Friday, Chuck bought my supper and Emily's gave me a free dessert. The skies cleared off a bit after supper, so we all went back to the land and started a nice campfire.

Sunday morning the skies were clear with no wind. Rick, Chuck and I opened up the main blind, fixed a cup of hot chocolate, and had everything ready to go at 7:45. We caught our first bird on Sunday at 8:40, an adult female Sharp-shinned hawk. It came in from the draw but went up over the net into a tree. It sat there a while and then dove into the back of the front net. At 9:00 the Bethany group pulled up in their van. While they were on the way up to the blind they spotted a Merlin that came zipping up the field and shot straight into the net at 9:09. Everyone had their cameras out and ready by the time they reached the blind. All day long we had a steady stream of shins coming over. With the good hawk spotting skills of the Bethany group, we were able to catch 7 more shins while they were there. Another Merlin, a big female, came in around 10:45, made a couple passes, hit the net and bounced out. We managed to get in a few photos of students with birds and some releases in between catching shins. Everyone got to see birds diving in, and in some cases we even had double shins coming in at once. All in all, a great day! Each student was able to release a hawk and we even caught one for Chad to release.

At 12:30 the group had to get going, so I walked down with them to hand out to each one, a raptor i. d. sheet, a bookmark and an art print. While we were down at my van, a Peregrine falcon came out of the North, headed over our land and off to the Southeast. Nice way for the group to finish the day!

Rick, Chuck and I caught one more shin before closing down our site at 2:00.

Todd had closed down his site on our land at noon and Curt had left to join Bobbi up at Greg's site. I called them to say they had just missed the Peregrine that flew right over our land after they had closed down. Ten minutes later, I got a call from an out-of-breath Greg, saying that Curt had just caught a Peregrine at his place. Congratulations, Curt!!! That is only the second Peregrine to be taken for falconry since the "Peregrine Take" started two years ago. Greg said they would be trapping until 3:00, so after I locked up everything at our campgrounds, I headed up to his place to see Curt's new bird and to take some photos before heading home.

We got a total of 10 birds and 1 bounce out on Sunday.

1 Merlin and 9 Sharp-shinned hawks.

Total for the weekend was 14 birds and 1 bounce-out.

2 Merlins and 12 Sharp-shinned hawks.

Grand Total for the year is 94.

Side Note: On Saturday I had taken only a few photos when my camera batteries ran out. In the process of replacing them, I bumped something on my "point-and-shoot" camera that caused it to reset to a smaller picture format than I normally use. Like I said before, "I'm not a photographer". Consequently the majority of my shots for this report were recorded in small format with very reduced picture quality. AAARRRGH!!!!

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 an adult female Sharp-shinned hawk.

Fifth Weekend 2013.

02. Students watching Rick and Chuck take a Merlin out of the net.

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03. Students watching Chuck and Rick take a shin out of the net.

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04. Chuck banding the Sharp-shin.

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05. Students with Chuck, Rick and the shin.

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06. The "overflow" blind.

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07. The second shin of the day in the "Coming In" pose.

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08. Coryn holding a shin.

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09. Janeen holding a shin.

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10. Tim holding a shin.

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11. Michael holding a shin.

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12. Carl holding a shin.

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13. Me, students and Chad with three shins.

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14. Heather, Brittany and Becky holding three shins.

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15. Becky releasing a Sharp-shinned hawk.

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16. Brittany releasing a Sharp-shinned hawk.

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17. Heather releasing a Sharp-shinned hawk.

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18. One year ago I made a comment about those little waxy donuts,

and, because of great friends like you, they turned into a pair of

10 x 50 Swarovski binoculars. I can't THANK YOU enough!!!

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19. Adult sharpy coming in.    

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20. Chuck recording data on the shin.

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21. Adult Sharp-shinned hawk.

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22. Immature Sharp-shinned hawk.

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23. Chuck with two shins.

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24. Student overflow area.

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25. Chuck holding up a shin for student photos.

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26. Students and Chad, group shot with a couple shins.

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27. Brittany and Benjamin about to release a Sharp-shinned hawk.

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28. Brittany and Benjamin releasing a Sharp-shinned hawk.

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29. Young male Merlin.

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30. Young male Merlin.

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31. Ben and Janeen about to release a Merlin.

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32. Ben and Janeen releasing a Merlin.

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33. Sharp-shinned hawk.

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34. Zach about to release a Sharp-shinned hawk.

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35. Zach releasing a Sharp-shinned hawk.

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36. Adult Sharp-shinned hawk.

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37. Michael about to release a Sharp-shinned hawk.

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38. Michael releasing a Sharp-shinned hawk.

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39. Sharp-shinned hawk.

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40. Coryn about to release a Sharp-shinned hawk.

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41. Coryn releasing a Sharp-shinned hawk.

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42. Sharp-shinned hawk.

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43. Colleen about to release a Sharp-shinned hawk.

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44. Colleen releasing a Sharp-shinned hawk.

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45. Adult Sharp-shinned hawk.

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46. Me and Chad with a shin.

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47. Chad about to release a Sharp-shinned hawk.

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48. Chad releasing a Sharp-shinned hawk.

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49. Sharp-shinned hawk.

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50. Rick about to release a shin.

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51. Rick releasing the shin.

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52. Fresh trapped "legal" Peregrine falcon up at Greg's site.

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53. Curt and his Peregrine falcon.

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54. Greg and Curt with the Peregrine falcon.

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55. Greg, Curt and Bobbi with the Peregrine falcon.

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56. Bobbi and Curt with the Peregrine falcon.

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57. Me congratulating Curt on getting his Peregrine falcon.

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58. Chuck holding the Cooper's hawk.

Photo by Nancy Schotzko.

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59. Adult Cooper's hawk.

Photo by Nancy Schotzko. 

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60. Chuck's friend Bill holding the Peregrine falcon.

Photo by Chuck Schotzko.

Fifth Week 2013.