Hello Friends,
WOW!!!!! What a weekend!!! We caught a North Shore
"trifecta" of falcons: a Peregrine Falcon, a Merlin and an American
Kestrel! We also caught the North American "trifecta" of accipiters:
a Northern Goshawk, a Cooper's Hawk and a Sharp-shinned Hawk!!!
Saturday morning Trudi and I met Rick, Nancy and Chuck at
the McDonalds near Spirit Mountain at 7:00 for breakfast. Then we all drove to
Hawk Harbor where Todd was already set up as we drove past his blind down on
our land. We loaded all our gear into Rick's truck and drove up to the banding
blind. The weather forecast did not look good for the weekend so we hung a
cover-up tarp on the back of the blind in case of rain. There was no wind or
rain, but the temperature was climbing rapidly as the sun came out. We were set
up and ready to trap by 8:45. At 9:00 Butch Ukura came up with Judd Brink, the
new president of the Bee Nay She Bird Club. Butch has been coming up with
members of this oldest of birding clubs in Minnesota for several years now. After
settling in, we caught our 1st bird of the weekend, a young male Sharp-shinned
hawk at 9:48. We banded it, took a bunch of photo and Judd released it.
At 10:05 we saw a Peregrine falcon coming over high from the
north. We tried for it but it just passed over without dipping a wing. We
caught 2 more shins and then had 1 kestrel and 2 shins bounce out in rapid
succession.
Hawks were getting up all over as the temperature kept on
climbing. Around 11:30 we got a very pleasant surprise when falconer Jeff Redig
stopped in. Jeff has been like one of Trudi and my kids since he was born. He
even stayed at our house when I went with Trudi when she taught at the
University of London in England. Jeff was also the person who orchestrated
donations from many of the people who had been up to the blind, so they could
buy me my pair of Swarovski 10 x 50 binoculars. We caught 5 more shins and 1
kestrel before Butch, Judd and Jeff had to leave.
Around 1:00 Sue Melchior and her oldest son Theo came up to
the blind. Sue's dad, Del Hogen, had recently passed away. Del was an officer
and founding member of the Minnesota Falconers Association in the early 70's.
Theo is interested in following in his grandfather's footsteps. This was Theo's
first trip up to our banding station. While he was there in the sweltering
heat, we had 2 bounce outs but we caught 12 Sharp-shinned hawks and one
Peregrine falcon. We caught the Peregrine at 2:49, we banded it, took a load of
photos and had Theo release it in honor of his grandfather Del.
After Sue and Theo left around 4:30, we caught 3 more shins
and a Merlin. The Merlin was the third species of falcon we caught that day,
completing a falcon "trifecta". We closed down at 5:00.
Todd joined Trudi, Nancy, Rick, Chuck and me for supper at
the Culvers in Two Harbors. I couldn't help myself when I saw the menu and
ordered the chopped steak dinner with fried onions, mushrooms and extra gravy.
We got a total of 27 birds and 5 bounce-outs on
Saturday.
24 Sharp-shinned hawks, 1 Peregrine Falcon, 1 Merlin
and 1 American Kestrel.
On Sunday morning we
headed back up to the blind in a misting fog. We set the nets and started at
7:30 am. Our fake owl did its job and lured a hunting shin up out of the draw.
It saw our lure and came right in. Yay! No skunk day today! We caught 5 more
shins before 9:00.
Around 9:00 Mavis
Magnuson, her nephew Larry Magnuson, her niece Cindy May and her grand niece
Jaclynn Magnuson along with Larry's friend Ron Rakness came up. Mavis worked at
Northwest Airlines 20 years ago when I was Curator of Education Birds at The Raptor
Center and she took care of all the birds that we shipped out for weekend
programs at new Target and Petsmart stores. Mavis has been coming up ever since
then. Larry and Ron have been up a few times and Cindy was up once before. This
was Jaclynn's first time at the blind.
While I was giving
Mavis's group the migration talk on the way up to the blind, we caught a Merlin
and another shin. I had stopped talking long enough for them to see both birds
diving across the field and into the nets while we all stood out in the
field. We took a bunch of photos,
did some releases and climbed into the blind. We caught 4 more shins while they
were there. At 10:28 we caught a beautiful adult female Cooper's hawk, banded
it, took photos and Mavis released it.
Right after Mavis's
group left at 12:56, we were watching what we thought was a young Red-tailed
hawk way off to the North that was making lazy slow circles in the sky and
resisting all our efforts. All of a sudden it "locked on" to our lure
and dropped right in. To our great surprise, it turned out to be a young
Northern goshawk. Whoopy Ding Ding!!! That completed our North American
accipiter "trifecta," including a Northern Goshawk, a Cooper's Hawk
and a Sharp-shinned Hawk! Rain was threatening so we closed down for the
weekend at 1:00.
We got a total of 13
birds and 0 bounce outs on Sunday.
10 Sharp-shinned hawks, 1 Cooper's Hawk, 1 Northern
Goshawk and 1 Merlin.
Total for the weekend was 40 birds and 5 bounce-outs.
34 Sharp-shinned hawks, 1 Cooper's Hawk, 1 Northern Goshawk,
1 Peregrine Falcon, 2 Merlins and 1 American Kestrel.
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
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01. Peregrine Falcon, first in the trifecta of falcons.
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02. Merlin, second in the trifecta of falcons.
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03. American Kestrel, third in the trifecta of falcons.
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04. Northern Goshawk, first in the trifecta of
accipiters.
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05. Cooper's Hawk, second in the trifecta of accipiters.
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06. Sharp-shinned Hawk, third in the trifecta of
accipiters.
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07. A young shin, the first bird of the weekend.
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08. Chuck and Rick taking the shin out of the net while
Judd and Butch watch.
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09. Judd about to release the shin.
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10. Judd releasing the shin.
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11. An adult Sharp-shinned hawk.
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12. Judd with Butch, who is about to release the shin.
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13. Butch releasing the shin.
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14. A surprise visit from Jeff. Left to right: Frank,
Jeff and Trudi.
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15. Jeff and Frank with the Swarovski binoculars that
Jeff arranged as a gift for me from visitors to the blind. (Yes, I did let him
use them while he was there.)
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16. A young shin.
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17. Butch, Nancy, Maggie (the dog), Rick, Trudi, Jeff,
Chuck, Judd and Frank with a couple of shins.
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18. Jeff about to release a shin.
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19. Jeff releasing the shin.
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20. A female American Kestrel.
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21. Frank, Rick, Nancy, Maggie (the dog), Trudi, Jeff
and Chuck with some more birds to release.
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22. Chuck, Jeff and Trudi doing a triple shin release.
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23. A female American Kestrel.
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24. Rick releasing the kestrel.
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25. An adult Sharp-shinned hawk.
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26. Sue and Theo about to release a shin.
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27. Theo releasing the shin.
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28. A young Sharp-shinned hawk in the tree.
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29. Sue, Frank and Theo with a couple of shins.
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30. Theo and Sue about to release some shins.
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31. Theo and Sue doing a double shin release.
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32. A young Peregrine falcon.
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33. Rick and Chuck taking the peregrine out of the net.
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34. Chuck holding the peregrine.
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35. Nancy, Maggie and Chuck posing with the peregrine.
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36. Trudi and Frank posing with the peregrine.
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37. A young Peregrine falcon.
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38. Theo about to release the peregrine.
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39. Theo releasing a peregrine falcon in honor of his
recently deceased grandfather Del Hogen, who was a founding member of the
Minnesota Falconers Association.
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40. Nancy and Trudi about to release some shins.
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41. Nancy and Trudi doing a double shin release.
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42. A Merlin.
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43. The back view of the Merlin.
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44. Rick about to release the Merlin.
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45. Rick releasing the Merlin.
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46. Maggie relaxing after a very hot day out behind the
blind. (She's thinking, "Are you guys done yet?")
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47. A foggy Sunday morning.
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48. Our fake owl attracted some shins through the early
morning mist.
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49. An adult Sharp-shinned hawk.
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50. Rick stating the obvious, "It came from up
there!"
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51. Mavis, Nancy, Trudi, Jaclynn, Chuck, Ron, Larry,
Rick, Cindy and Frank with some shins.
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52. Jaclynn about to release the shin.
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53. Jaclynn releasing the shin.
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54. Cindy about to release a shin.
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55. Cindy releasing the Sharp-shinned hawk.
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56. Mavis about to release another Sharp-shinned hawk.
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57. Mavis releasing the Sharp-shinned hawk.
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58. Larry about to release a shin.
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59. Larry releasing a shin.
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60. Ron about to release a Merlin.
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61. Ron releasing the Merlin.
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62. An adult female Cooper's hawk.
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63. An adult female Cooper's hawk.
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64. Chuck banding the Cooper's hawk.
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65. Comparing a female shin and a female Cooper's hawk.
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66. An adult female Cooper's hawk.
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67. Mavis about to release the Cooper's hawk.
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68. Mavis releasing the Cooper's hawk.
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69. A young Northern Goshawk.
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70. Rick and Chuck taking the goshawk out of the net.
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71. Rick and Chuck holding the goshawk.
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72. Back view of the Northern Goshawk.
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73. Chuck banding the goshawk.
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74. A young Northern Goshawk.
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75. Chuck releasing the goshawk.
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