2013 Banding Totals

Hi All,

Well, this is it, my final tally for the 2013 banding season. This year we banded a total of 127 birds. Last year we only got 87, so we are on an upswing! We still didn't get a lot of birds compared to some years, but we had a great time. This was my first season using my new Swarovski binoculars and I am so grateful to everyone who contributed towards them. I was able to see with unmatched clarity all those hawks that went by and that we did not catch!

We get lots of birds visiting each year, but we also get a good number of relatives, friends, falconers, birders and students coming up to share in the fun. I did a tally again this year of individuals who were up enjoying our banding activities. I counted each person only once, even if they came up multiple times. We had 70 individuals and 6 organized groups containing 52 people. A total of 122 guests were able to have an exceptional hawk viewing experience up at our site this year!

I hope their visit inspires each of them to a greater appreciation for our feathered friends, the raptors, and to make donations to

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

The National Eagle Center (www.nationaleaglecenter.org) and

Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory (www.hawkridge.org ).

Please support the people who work to help the raptors in our state.

Also, if you happen to be traveling along the North Shore, stop in at Emily’s Lighthouse Restaurant in Knife River and have a really delicious smothered meatloaf sandwich. Tell them Frank “The Hawk-banding Meatloaf Guy” sent you!

A very special THANK YOU goes to Mr. Mattson for letting us use his hay field for the forty-fourth year in a row.

Also a big THANK YOU goes to Bob Crosbie for supplying our lure birds this year.

I really must say a BIG THANK YOU to every one of our banding crew who came up to do the banding again this year. What a great and dedicated team of regulars we have. Trudi Taylor, Rick DuPont, Chuck & Nancy Schotzko and Todd Rosengren: without your dedication and co-operation, we would not be able to do this thing we love so much, year after year.

THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH!!!!!!

Here it is, the final breakdown.