Ninth Weekend of Banding 2014

October 25, 2014

Hi All,

Here is my ninth report of the 2014 banding season, covering the weekend of October 25, 2014.

This weekend it was only Chuck and me that met for breakfast at the Spirit Mountain McDonalds around 8:00 on Saturday morning. Nancy and Rick each had commitments at home this weekend and Trudi was in Florida visiting relatives. When we got to Hawk Harbor, Todd was already sitting in his blind. We packed up our gear, fired up the old van and drove up to the main blind. After a hasty set up, we were ready to start at 9:30. Skies were clear with a strong Northwest wind. A lot of birds were already up and moving through.

Our first bird of the day was a young male Northern Goshawk that came pumping straight in from the end of the draw. He hit the net at 9:32, only two minutes after we started!!! I banded it while Chuck reset the nets. We took some photos of it and then Chuck let it go. At 10:05 we had an adult female Sharp-shinned hawk come in from the North, down the tree line, but it hit the back of the mist net and bounced out.

Around 10:30, Shelley Paquette, my good friend and co-worker from Rise Inc., came up to see us. Her husband Guy and their two sons Lee and Ben came along as well. The Paquette family has been coming to visit us every year since 2006. Right after we all got settled into the blind, at 11:01, a big adult female Northern Goshawk came in low and fast across the field from out near the barn. Our second goshawk of the day! What a big gray beauty!!! We took a bunch of photos and then Ben let her go. At 11:52 a young Red-tailed hawk popped up over the big pine, set its wings and ploughed right in to the net. Man, these big birds pack a wallop when they hit! Not like the little shins we've gotten used to so far this year. We took some more photos and Lee got to release that one. We had an adult female shin come in real slow from the draw at 12:04. It hit high and bounced out. The next two birds we caught were young male Northern Goshawks. At 12:04, I was banding the first one that came in, when the second one hit the net. We took some photos and then Shelley and Guy released those two birds.

At about 1:15 my friend Marc Rude stopped by to see us. He had just stepped in to the blind at 1:27 when we caught a young female Sharp-shinned hawk. We took some photos of the shin, released it and then started looking for more hawks. At 2:07 we had a young goshawk hit the back net from the woods. When we got it out of the net, we saw it was already banded. It was the same gos that we had banded at 12:25, an hour and a half ago!!! What the heck, it counts! We got another young male goshawk at 2:58 before the winds switched around to the Southwest and the birds quit moving. At 3:30 we got a positive I.D. on a young Golden Eagle that came in close, but it wouldn't commit. We closed down for the day at 5:15.

Todd started a campfire to fix his supper and Marc headed for home. Shelley, Guy, Lee, Ben, Chuck and I went over to Emily's Lighthouse restaurant for supper. I ordered my 71st hot meatloaf sandwich with fried onions, mushrooms and an extra bowl of gravy. Lee also ordered one prepared the same way as mine. A big THANK YOU goes out to Guy and Shelley for treating us all to supper that night. When we got back to Hawk Harbor, Todd had a nice campfire going.

We got a total of 8 birds and 2 bounce-outs on Saturday.

1 Sharp-shinned hawk,1 Red-tailed hawk and 6 Northern Goshawks.

On Sunday morning the skies were clear and the wind was very light out of the Southwest. After a cup of hot chocolate and a couple waxy donuts, Chuck and I headed back up to the main blind while Todd went over to his site. A beautiful sunrise greeted us as we set up the nets. Everything was ready to go at 8:00. We saw one Red-tailed hawk sitting in a tree on the North side of the field but he wasn't interested. A little later an adult Bald Eagle sailed in and landed in a tall pine near the red-tail. It looked like it was going to be a slow day.

At 9:25 we spotted a lone shin flying high over the barn; it put in a long shallow stoop toward Todd's place and didn't come back out. Our first bird of the day, a young female Sharp-shinned hawk, was "in the hand". Right after I went down to get the shin from Todd, Elizabeth Rasmussen, who is the president of the University of Minnesota's Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology Club, pulled up with six club members. This same group, but with all different members, came up to our place last year. We took some photos of the shin and then played the "Numbers Game" (guess a number between 1 and 100). Elizabeth picked the closest number so she got to release the shin. We built a makeshift second blind, then everyone got under cover and started searching the skies for hawks. There weren't many moving, but they did keep coming over at regular intervals. At 11:05 an adult Red-tailed hawk started a long descending dive from about a quarter of a mile out. It came closer and closer on fixed wings as everyone watched. POW! It hit hard into the center of the front net! We took a load of photos, did the numbers game, and Andy, who just started working at The Raptor Center, won the release. At 11:43 a young male Northern Goshawk flew low out of the draw, near the fake owl. It saw the lure and came right across the field to hit the net. After another photo session, Amber picked the closest number so she got to release the gos.

Todd packed up around noon as it was getting pretty slow by then. The rest of us decided to keep trapping and at 12:36 a young Red-tailed hawk that was soaring way out in front started a long stoop that ended in the net. Three species in a half a day, not bad! Ryan won the release on that one and decided to do a little skit from "The Family Guy" for his release. That, by the way, was our 200th hawk of the season!!! We got another young Red-tailed hawk at 1:28. It made a beautiful stoop with its legs hanging down. Cody won the numbers game and got to release that one.

Just before we were going to close down for the day, Karin and Jeff Stedman stopped in to see us. We closed down the banding station at 2:45. I took the group down to the van to do my little migration talk and hand out bookmarks, identification sheets and art prints while Karin, Jeff and Chuck packed up the banding gear. My brother Mike pulled up just as I was saying goodbye to the group. Karin, Jeff and Chuck all headed home. After we closed up Hawk Harbor, Mike followed me down I-35 to the Grantsburg exit where he bought supper for me at the truck stop. Thanks, Mike!

We got a total of 5 birds and 0 bounce-outs on Sunday.

1 Sharp-shinned hawk, 1 Northern Goshawk and 3 Red-tailed hawks.

Grand Total for the year is 201.

Age and sex of all birds that bounce-out are obviously a "best guesstimate" by the closest witness and should not be considered hard data.

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 of the weekend, a young male Northern Goshawk.

Ninth Weekend 2014.

02. This Goshawk had some adult feathers molted in.

Ninth Weekend 2014.

03. Banding the Goshawk.

Ninth Weekend 2014.

04. Chuck getting ready to release the Northern Goshawk.

Ninth Weekend 2014.

05. Chuck releasing the Goshawk.

Ninth Weekend 2014.

06. Adult Female Northern Goshawk.

Ninth Weekend 2014.

07. Banding the adult Goshawk.

Ninth Weekend 2014.

08. Ben, Shelley, Chuck, Guy and Lee holding the adult Goshawk.

Ninth Weekend 2014.

09. Adult female Northern Goshawk doing the "Flagpole" pose.

Ninth Weekend 2014.

10. Adult female Northern Goshawk doing the "Profile" pose.

Ninth Weekend 2014.

11. Ben getting ready to release the gos.

Ninth Weekend 2014.

12. Ben releasing the gos.

Ninth Weekend 2014.

13. Young Red-tailed hawk doing the "Profile" pose.

Ninth Weekend 2014.

14. Banding the Red-tail.

Ninth Weekend 2014.

15. Guy, Lee, Ben and Shelley holding the young Red-tail that Lee released.

Ninth Weekend 2014.

16. Young male Northern Goshawk doing the "Are You Looking at Me?" pose.

Ninth Weekend 2014.

17. Chuck and Marc holding two young male goshawks.

Ninth Weekend 2014.

18. Banding the goshawks.

Ninth Weekend 2014.

19. Guy and Shelley about to release the Northern Goshawks.

Ninth Weekend 2014.

20. Shelley releasing a goshawk.

Ninth Weekend 2014.

21. Guy releasing a goshawk.

Ninth Weekend 2014.

22. Young male Northern Goshawk two hours after we banded him the first time.

Ninth Weekend 2014.

23. Holding the repeater goshawk with Chuck.

Ninth Weekend 2014.

24. Marc about to re-release the goshawk.

Ninth Weekend 2014.

25. Marc re-releasing the goshawk.

Ninth Weekend 2014.

26. Shelley, Lee, Chuck, me, Ben and Guy having supper at Emily's Lighthouse restaurant.

Ninth Weekend 2014.

27. The sun was just breaking over Lake Superior as we hiked up to the blind on Sunday morning.

Ninth Weekend 2014.

28. The first bird on Sunday was a young female Sharp-shinned hawk that Todd caught.

Ninth Weekend 2014.

29. Andy, Melissa, Elizabeth, me, Amber, Mark, Cody and Ryan from the University of Minnesota's Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology Club, holding the young shin.

Ninth Weekend 2014.