3rd Weekend of Banding 2016

Hi All,

On Saturday morning, the 17th of September, Rick, Chuck and I met at Hawk Harbor around 8:00 am. Trudi, Nancy and Todd all had other things going on this weekend, so they stayed home. We transferred all our banding gear to Rick's pick-up and drove up to the main blind. Everything was ready to go by 9:00.

It had rained all the night before so everything was dripping wet and the skies were still overcast with slight winds out of the Northwest.

We didn't have to wait long for our first bird of the day. A male American kestrel came in on the first pull of the lure. The overcast conditions must have kept the hawks from thermalling up, as a steady stream of birds started pouring across the field in front of us. We had just caught two Sharp-shinned hawks in quick succession when Chris Thorson and his family came up with their friends Rose and Gary Larson. This was Chris and his family's second time up at the blind.

We caught two more shins before we saw a Peregrine falcon swoop over the barn at the other end of the field and continue on right over Hawk Harbor. The hawks were coming over the field at a low altitude and we started catching one on average every 10 to 15 minutes. We took loads of photos and everyone in Chris's party got to release a bird. We caught five more shins and had two bounce-outs before they left for Hawk Ridge at noon.

Around 12:30, Gina Goralski and a group of 12 people from the Minnesota Zoo's Environmental Educators outreach program came up. We got everyone settled into the main blind and into the overflow blind. The hawks kept coming in like gang busters. Half the time the group was there, they would be out in front of the blind looking at or releasing a hawk, when they would have to "freeze" while another bird dropped out of the sky and into the net. We caught 15 shins and 2 Cooper's hawks and had 4 bounce-outs while they were there. Everyone got to do a release and we took a ton of photos. The Zoo group left for Hawk Ridge at 3:00.

The shins kept coming in at a steady pace and by 5:00 we had caught 9 more shins with 2 bounce-outs and had matched our old "All Time Record" of 36 hawks in one day! We caught 5 more shins and ended the day at 6:00 with a new "All Time Record" of 41 hawks banded in a single day!!!

After closing down the main blind, we met up with falconers Dani and Joe Hance, Curt Ruthenbeck, and Greg Mikkelson who were all camping at Hawk Harbor. Dani and Joe headed home while Rick, Chuck, Curt, Greg and I went in to Two Harbors to have a pizza at Do North Pizzaria. What a GREAT DAY!!!.

We got a total of 41 birds and 8 bounce-outs on Saturday.

1 American Kestrel, 2 Cooper's hawks and 38 Sharp-shinned hawks.

Sunday morning Rick, Chuck and I drove up to the main blind in a "pea soup" fog with no wind. We set up the banding station and started looking for birds at 7:30. I was on the phone talking to Trudi, telling her about the thick fog, when we spotted a shin flying low in front of the bushes out in front. It turned and came right in. Our first bird of the day was a tiny male Sharp-shinned hawk that hit the net at 7:43.

The fog burned off around 8:30, just after we had another shin come in from the same place as the first bird, but it bounced out.

At 9:00, Dave Jorgenson, a photographer friend of my brother Dan, came up for his first time to see us from Rochester, Minnesota. A little while later, my friend Larry Aho, a photographer from Eveleth, Minnesota, who was up last year, joined us at the blind.

Around 9:30, hundreds of Broad-wing hawks and Sharp-shinned hawks started looking for thermals and rose up out of the woods around us. They were so intent on getting some altitude under them that they paid little attention to our lure.

A lone adult female shin got up from the pines to the north of us and locked on to the lure. It came straight in over the draw and hit the net. Dave and Larry got a "bird's eye view" of the capture! We banded it, took some photos, and Dave did the release. At 9:40 a young male Cooper's hawk saw the lure from out over the flat top pine and made a direct path straight into the front net. More photos, a banding, and Larry did the release on that one. At 10:30 a big young female Red-tailed hawk started getting up from the other end of the field. It made a couple climbing circuits, spotted the lure and locked on. After so many small birds coming in this season, this red-tail looked like a 747 coming in. Dave and Larry were duly impressed!!! We took our photos, banded it, and Dave got to release the red-tail.

We had two more shins come in while Dave and Larry were there, an adult female and a young male Sharp-shinned hawk. We caught the female but the male bounced out. Larry got to do the final release of the weekend. By noon most of the birds passing over were so high, totally ignoring us, that we closed down for the weekend.

We got a total of 5 birds and 2 bounce outs on Sunday.

1 Red-tailed hawk, 1 Cooper's hawk and 3 Sharp-shinned hawks.

Total for the weekend was 46 birds and 10 bounce-outs.

1 Red-tailed hawk, 1 American kestrel, 3 Cooper's hawks and 41 Sharp-shinned hawks.

Grand Total for the year is 83.

Remember also, to see videos of related activities go to You Tube and search Frank Taylor Films or click on https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4sdI11-TvxPaQ5nO3PsKKA and then scroll to View All.

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. Rick and Chuck with the first bird of the weekend.

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02. An American Kestrel.

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03. American Kestrel.

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04. Jo Anne, Chris, Nancy, Rick, Chuck, Rose, Gary and Kyle holding shins.

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05. Adult and immature Sharp-shinned hawks.

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06. Young shin.

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07. Rose and Gary with the kestrel.

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08. Rose releasing the kestrel.

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09. Jo Anne and Kyle holding a shin.

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10. Kyle and Jo Anne releasing the shin.

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11. Chris and Nancy holding a shin.

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12. Chris and Nancy releasing the shin.

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13. Chuck showing a shin to the group.

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14. Kyle, Jo Anne, Nancy, Chris, Chuck, Rose and Gary with a shin.

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15. Kyle taking a selfie with the shin.

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16. Kyle about to release the shin.

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17. Kyle releasing the shin.

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18. Chris holding a shin.

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19. Chris releasing a shin.

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20. Rose and Gary with a shin.

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21. Rose and Gary releasing the shin.

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22. The shins kept coming in all day!

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23. Adult female Sharp-shinned hawk.

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24. Rick and Chuck taking a shin out of the net.

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25. The Minnesota Zoo group holding six shins.

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26. Adult female shin.

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27. Frank showing the group a Sharp-shinned hawk.

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28. Adult female shin.

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29. Judy holding a shin.

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30. Judy releasing the shin.

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31. Christine holding a shin.

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32. Christine releasing the shin.

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33. Monica holding a shin.

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34. Monica releasing the shin.

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35. Paul holding a shin.

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36. Paul releasing the shin.

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37. Judy holding a shin.

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38. Judy releasing the shin.

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39. Scott holding a shin.

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40. Scott releasing the shin.

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41. Chris holding a shin.

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42. Chris releasing the shin.

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43. Young male Cooper's hawk.

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44. Nina holding the Cooper's hawk.

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45. Nina releasing the Cooper's hawk.

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46. Diana holding a shin.

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47. Diana releasing the shin.

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48. Diane holding a shin.

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49. Diane releasing the shin.

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50. Josh holding a shin.

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51. Josh releasing the shin.

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52. Young male Cooper's hawk with an iris discoloration.

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53. Alison holding the Cooper's hawk.

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54. Alison releasing the Cooper's hawk.

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55. Gina holding a shin.

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56. Gina releasing the shin.

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57. Rick and Chuck with the 40th bird of the day.

Today we set a new record of 41 birds in one day.

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58. Our fake owl on a foggy Sunday morning.

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59. A very wet young male Sharp-shinned hawk was our first bird of the day.

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60. Chuck banding the shin.

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61. Chuck releasing the foggy morning shin.

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62. Kettles of Broad-winged hawks were everywhere.

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63. Rick and Chuck taking a shin out of the net while Dave and Larry take photos.

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64. Adult female Sharp-shinned hawk.

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65. Dave holding the shin.

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66. Dave releasing the shin.

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67. Young male Cooper's hawk.

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68. Dave and Larry taking photos of Chuck and Rick with the Cooper's hawk.

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69. Larry holding the Cooper's hawk.

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70. Larry releasing the Cooper's hawk.

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71. A young Red-tailed hawk.

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72. Chuck and Rick taking the young Red-tailed hawk out of the net.

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73. Young Red-tailed hawk.

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74. Rick, Larry, Chuck and Dave holding the Red-tailed hawk.

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75. Dave getting ready to release the young Red-tailed hawk.

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76. Dave releasing the Red-tailed hawk.

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77. Adult Sharp-shinned hawk.

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78. Larry about to release the shin

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79. Larry releasing the shin.

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