Hello Friends,
Our fifth weekend of banding turned out to be a very wet
five-days at the blind.
On 7:00 Saturday morning September 30th, I met Rick at the
McDonalds near Spirit Mountain. I was alone as Trudi had things to catch up on
at home that weekend. Just as I sat down with Rick, Chuck called to say that
his son David, who lives in Canada, had just arrived with his family so he and
Nancy would not be able to be there either. Todd had come up on Friday and was
already set up when we drove into Hawk Harbor.
Rick and I set up the nets and started at 8:45. Skies were
clear blue with little or no wind. Not until 10:43, when it started to cloud
up, did we catch our first bird of the day, an adult male Sharp-shinned hawk.
We caught 2 more shins before 12:00. At noon, Troy Holkestad stopped in to see
us. Troy's dad, Ken Holkestad, had been our long time falconry friend and a hawk
bander. A little while later Emily Kermath drove up with Erin Toohey and
Katherine Schmitz, who all work at R.E.G.I. (Raptor Education Group Inc.) in
Wisconsin. Abby Krumrie who used to work there was also along. Emily and Abbey
had been up a few times before, but this was Katherine and Erin's first time up
at the blind. Around 2:45 we got a call from Greg Mikkelson who was trapping on
his hill to say that they had just spotted a young female Peregrine falcon that
flew past them and was headed our way. Sure enough, a few minutes later, that
same peregrine showed up over the barn and passed to the South of us. It is
always nice to see a peregrine. We closed down at 4:30 and went in to Do North
Pizzaria in Two Harbors for supper.
We got a total of 3 birds and 0 bounce-outs on Saturday.
3 Sharp-shinned hawks.
On Sunday morning, Rick
and I loaded up the banding gear in his truck and, along with Emily's group who
had camped out at Hawk Harbor, got started at 7:30. There was a slight wind
blowing from the South but not a hawk was moving. At 8:38 we saw what looked
like a young female Peregrine falcon flying South down Homestead Road. It
didn't even give us a glance! Around 11:00 Chris Aleman and Greg Mikkelson came
by. They had shut down their spot farther up the shore due to no birds. The
only bird that came that day was a Blue jay that was packing his crop with
corn. We did the Wish Bird Sign with our hands (putting our hands together to
look like a hawk that we wish we had caught) and closed down at 5:00.
We got a total of 0
birds and 0 bounce outs on Sunday.
Skunked Day!
At 8:00 Monday morning, my long time falconry friend
Larry Miller and his wife Jude came all the way from the Chicago area to do
some banding with me. We had everything set up and ready to go at 9:30. The
wind was light out of the South with scattered showers. Not so good for
banding! We sat in the blind all day watching a few kestrels work the draw. At
1:57 one of them came in and hit the net but bounced out! Arrgh! Just when we
thought we would get a repeat of Sunday, a young male Northern Goshawk popped
up over the draw at 2:16 and started chasing a kestrel. It dogged the kestrel
for a few wild gyrations around the sky and then went to perch in a spruce on
the North side of the field. I pulled the lure line and it came right in. Thank
God! Not another Skunked Day!!! The sky started looking pretty menacing with
big thundershowers so we closed down at 3:30. Later, I met Larry at the Culvers
near Miller Hill Mall for supper and drove back to Hawk Harbor that night in a
deluge of rain with flash flood warnings.
We got a total of 1 bird
and 1 bounce out on Monday.
1 Northern Goshawk.
It rained hard all night and Tuesday morning it was
still coming down in sheets so I called Larry to say we should postpone
starting until after the rain stopped. It didn't quit until noon. Jude and
Larry arrived around 1:00. I tried to drive the banding gear up to the blind,
but my minivan bogged down in the mud before I got half way up the field. After
rocking it a few times and spraying mud all over trying to get it out, we left the
van and carried everything up to the blind. We set up the nets in a swampy mess
and at 1:30 we were ready to start banding. A few showers still lingered but
then the wind started blowing hard from the West. Around 2:00 Dave Gilbertson
came up. Dave is another long-time falconry friend and had been a regular for
many years at the banding station on Hawk Ridge.
When the wind finally dried up the rains and cleared
the sky, loads of birds started getting up and migrating. We caught an adult
female shin that was hunting the draw at 2:28. At 2:40 a larger bird came
powering low through a gap in the draw and shot right into the front net. Only
after it had hit the net did we realize it was an adult male Peregrine falcon
that was already banded! It had a color-marked band on one leg and a regular
band on the other. Jackie Fallon had banded this bird near Two Harbors, before
it fledged, a year earlier. WOW!!! We marked down the band numbers, took a
bunch of photos and Larry let it go.
Before Dave left around 4:00 he used his four-wheel
drive SUV and a tow belt to get my car moving so I could drive it back down and
onto the road. We caught one more shin and had a shin bounce out before we
closed down for the day at 5:00. Jude and Larry drove back into Duluth for
supper while I stayed at Hawk Harbor. I had a cookie and a soda for supper and
went right to bed. I was muddy, knackered, and glad to be in a dry sleeping
bag.
We got a total of 3
birds and 1 bounce out on Tuesday.
1 Peregrine falcon and 2 Sharp-shinned hawks.
Wednesday morning at 8:00, Nancy and Chuck met Jude,
Larry and me at Hawk Harbor. We carried the gear up to the blind, as the field
was still soaked. At 8:30 we were ready to go. In the next hour we caught 2
shins, banded them, and were ready to release them when David and Nikki Schotzko
came up with their kids, Leo and Duncan. This was the first time that Chuck's
grandsons were at the blind and ready to help grandpa Chuck catch some hawks.
While the Schotzko family manned the blind, I took
Jude and Larry on a sightseeing tour up the North Shore of Lake Superior. We
stopped at Palisade Head, Split Rock Lighthouse, Gooseberry Falls and at Russ
Kendall's fish shop in Knife River, Minnesota. When we got back, Chuck and
family had caught 2 Red-tailed hawks and another shin. Soon after, they packed
up and headed home. Jude, Larry and I stayed and caught 1 more Red-tailed hawk
before closing down at 5:00.
We got a total of 6
birds and no bounce outs on Wednesday.
3 Red-tailed hawks and 3 Sharp-shinned hawks.
Total for the long weekend was 13 birds and 2 bounce-outs.
8 Sharp-shinned hawks, 1 Northern Goshawk, 1 Peregrine
falcon and 3 Red-tailed hawks.
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. An adult Peregrine Falcon that was already banded.
Fifth Weekend 2017
|
 |
|
02. Young male Northern Goshawk.
Fifth Weekend 2017
|
 |
|
03. Adult Sharp-shinned hawk, first bird of the weekend.
Fifth Weekend 2017
|
 |
|
04. Frank banding the shin.
Fifth Weekend 2017
|
 |
|
05. Rick releasing the shin.
Fifth Weekend 2017
|
 |
|
06. Frank, Troy, Katherine, Abbey, Erin, Emily and Rick,
Saturday afternoon.
Fifth Weekend 2017
|
 |
|
07. An old shin.
Fifth Weekend 2017
|
 |
|
08. A young shin.
Fifth Weekend 2017
|
 |
|
09. Comparing female adult and young shins.
Fifth Weekend 2017
|
 |
|
10. Old shin left, young shin right.
Fifth Weekend 2017
|
 |
|
11. Rick releasing the shins.
Fifth Weekend 2017
|
 |
|
12. The only bird that came in on Sunday was a Blue Jay,
to steal some corn.
Fifth Weekend 2017
|
 |
|
13. Frank, Chris, Greg, Abbey, Erin, Katherine, Emily
and Rick doing the "Wish Bird Symbol".
Fifth Weekend 2017
|
 |
|
14. A Northern Goshawk, the only bird we caught on
Monday.
Fifth Weekend 2017
|
 |
|
15. Frank banding the Goshawk.
Fifth Weekend 2017
|
 |
|
16. Frank, Jude and Larry holding the Goshawk on a very
rainy Monday.
Fifth Weekend 2017
|
 |
|
17. A young male Northern Goshawk.
Fifth Weekend 2017
|
 |
|
18. Jude and Larry about to release the Goshawk.
Fifth Weekend 2017
|
 |
|
19. Jude and Larry releasing the Goshawk.
Fifth Weekend 2017
|
 |
|
20. A Tuesday afternoon Sharp-shinned hawk.
Fifth Weekend 2017
|
 |
|
21. Larry and Dave holding the Sharp-shinned hawk.
Fifth Weekend 2017
|
 |
|
22. Dave releasing the shin.
Fifth Weekend 2017
|
 |
|
23. An adult male Peregrine falcon that was already
banded.
Fifth Weekend 2017
|
 |
|
24. An adult male Peregrine falcon that was already
banded.
Fifth Weekend 2017
|
 |
|
25. Frank holding the adult Peregrine falcon.
Fifth Weekend 2017
|
 |
|
26. Adult male Peregrine falcon.
Fifth Weekend 2017
|
 |
|
27. Dave holding the Peregrine.
Fifth Weekend 2017
|
 |
|
28. Larry about to release the Peregrine falcon.
Fifth Weekend 2017
|
 |
|
29. Dave and Larry releasing the Peregrine.
Fifth Weekend 2017
|
 |
|
30. An adult Sharp-shinned hawk on Wednesday morning.
Fifth Weekend 2017
|
 |
|
31. Grandpa Chuck getting hawk spotting help from
grandsons Duncan and Leo.
Fifth Weekend 2017
|
 |
|
32. Chuck, Nancy, Maggie (the dog), Larry, Nikki,
Duncan, Jude, Leo, and David with two shins.
Fifth Weekend 2017
|
 |
|
33. Nikki and David doing a double shin release with
sons Duncan and Leo.
Fifth Weekend 2017
|
 |
|
34. An adult Sharp-shinned hawk.
Fifth Weekend 2017
|
 |
|
35. Leo releasing the shin.
Fifth Weekend 2017
|
 |
|
36. Larry and Jude up on Palisade Head with Shovel Point
in the background.
Fifth Weekend 2017
|
 |
|
37. Larry and Jude at Split Rock Lighthouse.
Fifth Weekend 2017
|
 |
|
38. Jude and Larry at Gooseberry Falls.
Fifth Weekend 2017
|
 |
|
39. Wednesday afternoon Red-tailed hawk.
Fifth Weekend 2017
|
 |
|
40. Frank banding the Red-tailed hawk.
Fifth Weekend 2017
|
 |
|
41. Molting tail feathers.
Fifth Weekend 2017
|
 |
|
42. An adult Red-tailed hawk.
Fifth Weekend 2017
|
 |
|
43. Jude and Larry releasing the Red-tailed hawk.
Fifth Weekend 2017
|
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.