Seventh Weekend of Banding 2014

October 11, 2014

Hi All,

Here is my seventh report of the 2014 banding season, covering the weekend of October 11, 2014.

On Saturday morning, I met Rick at the Spirit Mountain McDonalds. Nancy and Chuck were visiting family and Todd was pulling his boat out and getting it ready for winter. Trudi had our grandsons over and was going to come up on Sunday after taking them home. We had a little breakfast and headed up to Hawk Harbor. After loading up the old van, we drove up to the blind and started setting up. We had everything ready to go by 9:45. Skies were clear with a light Southwest wind. Shins were moving and three Northern Harriers started working the field. A group of Bald Eagles, Turkey Vultures, Ravens and Crows were congregating just East of us where our neighbor had placed a deer carcass and a gut pile.

At 10:06 our first bird came in, an adult female Sharp-shinned hawk. Unfortunately it came in slow from the North, hit the edge of the back net, and bounced out. Just then two cars pulled up down by the old van. Nancy Wilson and her son Eric were in the first car and Brynn Johnson and her friend Holly Grams were in the second one. Nancy was a volunteer at The Raptor Center when I worked there years ago and comes up to see us every year. Brynn got interested in raptors when she was only sixteen years old and has been bringing up various school groups and friends for many years. We all got settled in when Rick noticed a big bird locked on and coming in from the North. It seemed to take forever as the young Red-tail came gliding toward us on fixed wings. There is nothing like watching a big raptor intent on a kill, shooting in straight as an arrow. Boom!!! In the net and Rick is on it! Our first banding of the day, a beautiful young Red-tailed hawk. We took our photos and Eric got to release that Red-tail. We caught three Sharp-shins over the next two hours and at 12:47 another young Red-tailed hawk that was hovering over the far end of the field "locked-on" and made a nice long stoop into the net. It was Brynn's turn, so she got to release that one. Everyone was straining to spot another Red-tail out front, when we saw a large accipiter pop up over the flat top pine and come pumping straight in. A nice big female Northern Goshawk!!! We banded it and Rick showed it to the group and held it up for photos. Holly got to release the Goshawk.

We caught one more shin and then my friend Tim Viele from Duluth and his friend Cynthia Scott stopped by to see us. We closed down at 4:30. Brynn and Holly headed back to their hotel in Duluth. Cynthia headed home and Tim joined Nancy, Eric, Rick and me over at Emily's Lighthouse restaurant where Dave Floria also met us for supper. Dave had been trapping at his site just North of us. I had to think about a menu choice for about one millisecond and then I ordered my 69th hot meatloaf sandwich with fried onions, mushrooms and an extra bowl of gravy. Rick and I were the only ones staying at Hawk Harbor that night. When we got back, we noticed that Greg Wallgren from Duluth had stopped by and dropped a load of wood in the fire pit. Rick and I enjoyed a nice campfire that night thanks to Greg.

We got a total of 7 birds and 1 bounce-out on Saturday.

4 Sharp-shinned hawks, 1 Northern Goshawk and 2 Red-tailed hawks.

On Sunday morning the skies were again clear and the wind was very light out of the Southwest. Bald Eagles, Turkey Vultures, Ravens and Crows were all back out feeding on the gut pile when we walked up. I got a nice HD film of a very tame young Bald Eagle sitting in the tree above the blind.  We set up the nets and were ready to start at 8:15. Our first bird of the day was a little immature male Merlin at 8:35. It took a couple shots at our fake owl, pulled off, and came straight in. Right after that Tom Peterson and his daughter Kristi Westrup came up from Howard Lake, Minnesota, followed by Brynn and Holly. Tom was President of the Minnesota Falconers Association years ago. We took a bunch of photos and Kristi got to release the Merlin. Then we caught three shins before having another shin bounce out at 12:15. Rick had to leave for home at 12:30, so he could buy some tires before the shop closed. We also got a second good look at a coyote that had visited the gut pile yesterday. He just trotted out like he owned the place without any concerns, gobbled down some of the "good stuff" and trotted off again. We had just caught three more shins when Jen Harner from Duluth stopped by. Jen brought me some railroad books and a "poster" that she and Walter Sipila had picked up at a garage sale in Duluth. I was shocked!!! The books were really nice ones that I didn't already have. The "poster" was an art print from the top of a 1976 Duluth Mesabi and Iron Range Railroad calendar that I had been searching for at train swap meets for the past three years!!!  THANK YOU, Jen and Walter!!!!

A little later, Trudi arrived. She spent the rest of the day helping us look for hawks that had somehow disappeared for the rest of the afternoon! We closed down at 4:30. Tom, Kristi, Jen, Brynn and Holly headed for home while Trudi and I packed up the banding gear and then went in to Two Harbors for supper at Culver's.

We got a total of 7 birds and 1 bounce-out on Sunday.

1 Merlin and 6 Sharp-shinned hawks.

Grand Total for the year is 187.

Monday, Bonus Day!!! We knew that rain was forecast for all day on Monday, so Trudi and I took our time waking up at Hawk Harbor. I turned on the heater and put on a pot of water. We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast of hot chocolate and some glazed donuts that Trudi had bought on her way up yesterday. We had to decide what we would like to do on such a rainy-gloomy day. Three weeks earlier, Chuck had spotted a Black-billed Magpie right over the blind. I rushed out to see if I could spot it too, since I had never seen one before in Minnesota, but it had already flown off. Dang, missed it! So, we decided to drive up to the Sax-Zim Bog to see if we could find one. When Roy Zimmerman, President of the Minnesota Ornithologist Union was up at the blind two weeks ago, he told me where to go in the bog for the best chance of seeing one. So we were off to "Blog the Bog".

Even though it was a gloomy day, being with Trudi made it seem like a day full of sunshine. We didn't have a map, so we called our friend Judy Wain, who had grown up in Meadowlands, and she said to go to check the city center were they sometimes have birding info posted on the bulletin board. We got there and the board was bare. I had a rough idea of the general area called the bog, so we drove North out of town a ways, then West a bit, and then headed back East. We had gone only a short distance when we came upon Owl Road. That sounded like a good one to us, so we turned South on Owl Road and with all the luck of my 1/4 Irish ancestry, we ran right into the Sax-Zim Bog Visitor's Center. It was closed, but they had some great signs and free maps. We plotted a course around the bog and on our first leg of the journey, we spotted a Black-billed Magpie sitting on a post in the middle of a pasture! Wow!!! What luck! And then, another one flew in to join the first!  Armed with our map, we went on to spot a Great Gray Owl, a Gray Jay, a Bald Eagle, a Red-tailed Hawk, a male Northern Harrier, a male and a female American Kestrel, a Pileated Woodpecker, Ravens, Crows, Blue Jays, Starlings, Robins, Chickadees, Juncos, Yellow Shafted Flickers and some warblers.

One of the extra benefits of that area for me is that a couple of major railroads have active lines running right through the bog. I am a super "Train Geek" and I was able to get photos of a couple trains that came through while we were there.

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. Young Red-tailed hawk on Saturday morning.

Seventh Weekend 2014.

02. Banding the Red-tailed hawk.

Seventh Weekend 2014.

03. Young Red-tailed hawk.

Seventh Weekend 2014.

04. Eric, Rick and Nancy holding the Red-tail.

Seventh Weekend 2014.

05. Nancy and Eric getting ready to release the Red-tail.

Seventh Weekend 2014.

06. Nancy and Eric releasing the Red-tail.

Seventh Weekend 2014.

07. Adult Sharp-shinned hawk.

Seventh Weekend 2014.

08. Me, Brynn and Holly with Sharp-shinned hawks.

Seventh Weekend 2014.

09. Holly getting ready to release the Sharp-shinned hawk.

Seventh Weekend 2014.

10. Holly releasing the Sharp-shinned hawk.

Seventh Weekend 2014.

11. Second Red-tailed hawk of the day.

Seventh Weekend 2014. 

12. Brynn, me and Holly with the young Red-tailed hawk.

Seventh Weekend 2014.

13. Brynn getting ready to release the Red-tailed hawk.

Seventh Weekend 2014.

14. Brynn releasing the Red-tailed hawk.

Seventh Weekend 2014.

15. Young female Northern Goshawk.

Seventh Weekend 2014.

16. Banding the Goshawk.

Seventh Weekend 2014.

17. Rick showing the group the Goshawk.

Seventh Weekend 2014.

18. Rick holding the young female Goshawk.

Seventh Weekend 2014.

19. Holly, Brynn, Eric, Rick and Nancy with the Goshawk.

Seventh Weekend 2014.

20. Holly getting ready to release the Goshawk.

Seventh Weekend 2014.

21. Holly releasing the Goshawk.

Seventh Weekend 2014. 

22. Young female Northern Goshawk.

Seventh Weekend 2014. 

23. Adult Sharp-shinned hawk.

Seventh Weekend 2014. 

24. Me, Cynthia and Tim.

Seventh Weekend 2014. 

25. Sunday morning Merlin.

Seventh Weekend 2014. 

26. Banding the Merlin.

Seventh Weekend 2014. 

27. Adult female Sharp-shinned hawk doing the "Profile" pose.

Seventh Weekend 2014. 

28. Brynn, Holly, Tom, Kristi and Rick holding shin and Merlin.

Seventh Weekend 2014. 

29. Young male Merlin.

Seventh Weekend 2014. 

30. Tom, Kristi and me with a shin and a Merlin.

Seventh Weekend 2014. 

31. Kristi getting ready to release the Merlin.

Seventh Weekend 2014. 

32. Kristi releasing the Merlin.

Seventh Weekend 2014.

33. Young male Merlin.

Seventh Weekend 2014.

34. Adult female Sharp-shinned hawk.

Seventh Weekend 2014.

35. Kristi and Tom holding a Sharp-shinned hawk.

Seventh Weekend 2014. 

36. Kristi and Tom releasing the Sharp-shinned hawk.

Seventh Weekend 2014. 

37. Young Sharp-shinned hawk.

Seventh Weekend 2014. 

38. Tom, Trudi and Kristi.

Seventh Weekend 2014.

39. Kristi getting ready to release the Sharp-shinned hawk.

Seventh Weekend 2014.

40. Kristi releasing the Sharp-shinned hawk.

Seventh Weekend 2014.

41. Just by luck we found the Sax-Zim Bog Visitor's Center.

Seventh Weekend 2014.

42. Good birding info on the signs and free maps.

Seventh Weekend 2014.

43. My first Minnesota Magpie (that's why we went to the bog).

Seventh Weekend 2014. 

44. A fuzzy attempt at a close up of the Magpie with my point and shoot camera.

Seventh Weekend 2014. 

45. What Luck!!! Two Black-billed Magpies.

Seventh Weekend 2014.

46. We spotted a Great Gray Owl on Admiral Road.

Seventh Weekend 2014. 

47. Another fuzzy attempt to get a close-up of the Great Gray Owl.

Seventh Weekend 2014. 

48. Who would have guessed that the Sax-Zim Bog area is also a great place for spotting trains!

Seventh Weekend 2014. 

49. Canadian National Railroad engines hauling a load of limestone in old DM&IR ore cars.

Seventh Weekend 2014. 

50. Did I mention that I LOVE trains?

Seventh Weekend 2014.