Hello All,
Trudi and I
drove up to Hawk Harbor on Friday morning to mow the grass and get the place
ready for campers. Members of the Minnesota Falconers Association would be
coming for the weekend to camp, hold a meeting, and visit various hawk trapping
and banding sites along the North Shore. Rick and Todd showed up around 2:30.
We got our work done by 5:00 and went to have a pizza at Do North Pizzaria in
Two Harbors.
Saturday morning, the weather was perfect but the East winds
were not favorable for a large hawk migration. Trudi, Rick and I went to the
banding station to set up and before we were half way done, Todd called to say
he had already caught a young female Sharp-shinned Hawk. I went down to get it
while Trudi and Rick continued to set up the main blind. We banded the shin,
took some photos and Rick let it go.
A little later, the falconers started arriving so Trudi went
down to Hawk Harbor to organize the camping and parking. As some of the
falconers started coming up to the blind, we saw a few Turkey Vultures and some
eagles going over, but not much else. At 11:45, we spotted an adult Red-tailed
Hawk high up, soaring around at what looked to be a mile off to the East. Rick
pulled the lure line and it straightened out and made a very long sloping dive
toward the nets. When it got closer, its legs came down with the big meat hooks
on the ends and it hit squarely in the middle of the front net!
I banded it, we took some more photos with the visitors, and
Aurelie, a new member of the club who recently had worked for ten years at the
Irish School of Falconry in Ireland, let it go. That was the last bird we got
that day and we closed down at 5:30.
By the time we got back to Hawk Harbor, everyone was
gathering for the cookout and food spread that Trudi had organized. Mattie took
over the grill duties and everyone got a hearty meal before settling down to a
roaring campfire and very tall tales. However, before the tall tales started,
Frank begged the more muscular falconers attending to help move an old shed off
of Todd's trapping area. Incidentally, we were surprised to find that we had an
un-invited guest for the entire weekend at Hawk Harbor: a very friendly
(imprinted) and noisy rooster that had wandered into our place and took a
liking to Trudi. (The rooster was absolutely no help in moving the shed!)
We got a total of 2 birds
and no bounce-outs on Saturday.
1 Sharp-shinned Hawk and 1 Red-tailed Hawk.
Sunday morning we got up
and fixed hot chocolate for anyone who was stirring at 6:30. Rick, Nancy, Chuck
and I went to set up the banding station while Trudi stayed at Hawk Harbor to
serve cookies and hot chocolate and then direct the waking campers to the
various trapping sites. Some went to Greg's place on Hawk Hill, some went over
to Todd's, and others came up to our banding blind where we were set up and
ready to go at 7:30. The weather was the same as Saturday, great for outdoor
activities, but not good for getting hawks to move. We got every one who came
up to our blind situated and then we sat for about an hour with no sign of a
hawk at all. Finally at 8:35, we watched a young female shin come from the
North and take a shot at our fake owl out in the draw. Rick pulled the lure
line and it came straight in, but at the last second, pulled up into a tree
behind the nets. Rick wiggled the lure just a little and it swooped down and
into the back of the front net. Yeay! Our first bird of the day and visitors
got to see it come in! We banded it, took photos, and Niall, Aurelie's husband
(who is an executive for Thermo-King in Ireland), let it go right after Chuck
showed it to Eloi, Aurelie and Niall's 3 year old son.
At 9:40, a young female
Merlin landed on the top of a spruce tree on the North side of the field. Rick
pulled the lure line and it shot right into the front net at full speed. Wahoo!
Bird number two! This season marked Mattie and his dad Glen's twenty-fifth year
of visits to our blind. To celebrate the occasion, we had them release the
Merlin.
The next bird to come in
was a Blue Jay that accidentally flew into the corner of the front net as it
was coming in to steal some birdseed that I had put out in front of the blind.
Being new to this country and our birds, Aurelie was fascinated by the beauty
of the jay, so she got to release it.
We caught two more shins
that day, both young females, and had one bounce-out by a young male shin.
Colin, a sixteen year and still active National Guardsman, who is new to the
club, got to release one of the shins. Nancy and Chuck released the other one.
Just before we closed down for the weekend at 2:00, a large young Peregrine
Falcon came soaring over the field. She must have fed recently as she passed
right over us without noticing our lure. Nice way to end the weekend!
We got a total of 4 birds
and 1 bounce-out on Sunday.
3 Sharp-shinned Hawks and 1 Merlin.
Total for the weekend was 6 birds and 1 bounce-out.
4 Sharp-shinned Hawks, 1 Merlin and 1 Red-tailed Hawk.
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)
The Midwest Peregrine Society (http://midwestperegrine.umn.edu/)
Trudi &
Frank Taylor
 |
|
01. Trudi placing our new Hawk Harbor sign.
Second Weekend 2018
|
 |
|
02. First bird of the weekend, a young female
Sharp-shinned Hawk.
Second Weekend 2018
|
 |
|
03. Rick and Trudi showing us the shin.
Second Weekend 2018
|
 |
|
04. Back side of the shin.
Second Weekend 2018
|
 |
|
05. Rick releasing the shin.
Second Weekend 2018
|
 |
|
06. An old Red-tailed Hawk.
Second Weekend 2018
|
 |
|
07. Rick taking the red-tail out of the net.
Second Weekend 2018
|
 |
|
08. Frank banding the red-tail.
Second Weekend 2018
|
 |
|
09. Colin, Frank, Aurelie and Trudi with the red-tail.
Second Weekend 2018
|
 |
|
10. Aurelie about to release the red-tail.
Second Weekend 2018
|
 |
|
11. Aurelie releasing the red-tail.
Second Weekend 2018
|
 |
|
12. A banded Red-tailed Hawk, heading for the hills.
Photo by Rick Dupont
Second Weekend 2018
|
 |
|
13. Trudi setting up the food table for the Minnesota
Falconers Association camp-over.
Second Weekend 2018
|
 |
|
14. Mattie and Eric checking out the goodies.
Photo by Trudi Taylor
Second Weekend 2018
|
 |
|
15. Curt and his controversial alarm clock.
Photo by Trudi Taylor
Second Weekend 2018
|
 |
|
16. Getting ready for the campfire.
Second Weekend 2018
|
 |
|
17. Sunday morning Sharp-shinned Hawk.
Second Weekend 2018
|
 |
|
18. Rick and Chuck getting the shin out of the net.
Second Weekend 2018
|
 |
|
19. Glen, Mattie, Niall, Chuck, Aurelie, Eloi and Rick
with the shin.
Second Weekend 2018
|
 |
|
20. Chuck giving Eloi a close look at the shin.
Second Weekend 2018
|
 |
|
21. A young female Sharp-shinned Hawk.
Second Weekend 2018
|
 |
|
22. Aurelie, Eloi and Niall about to release the shin.
Second Weekend 2018
|
 |
|
23. Aurelie, Eloi and Niall releasing the shin.
Photo by Rick Dupont
Second Weekend 2018
|
 |
|
24. A Merlin.
Second Weekend 2018
|
 |
|
25. Chuck taking the Merlin out of the net.
Second Weekend 2018
|
 |
|
26. Young Mattie holding a shin and a 25 year older
Mattie holding a Merlin.
Not much has changed in 25 years, except the bird and
the clothes sizes!
Second Weekend 2018
|
 |
|
27. Glen and Mattie with the silver anniversary Merlin.
Second Weekend 2018
|
 |
|
28. Glen and Mattie releasing the Merlin in honor of 25
years of coming up to the blind.
Second Weekend 2018
|
 |
|
29. A Blue Jay caught trying to steal some birdseed.
Second Weekend 2018
|
 |
|
30. Aurelie about to release the Blue Jay.
Second Weekend 2018
|
 |
|
31. Aurelie releasing the Blue Jay.
Photo by Rick Dupont
Second Weekend 2018
|
 |
|
32. A young female shin.
Second Weekend 2018
|
 |
|
33. Chuck and Rick taking another shin out of the nets.
Second Weekend 2018
|
 |
|
34. Another young female shin.
Second Weekend 2018
|
 |
|
35. Two young female Sharp-shinned Hawks.
Second Weekend 2018
|
 |
|
36. Colin, Nancy, Chuck and Rick with the shins.
Second Weekend 2018
|
 |
|
37. Colin about to release a shin.
Second Weekend 2018
|
 |
|
38. Colin releasing a shin.
Second Weekend 2018
|
 |
|
39. Chuck and Nancy about to release a shin.
Second Weekend 2018
|
 |
|
40. Chuck and Nancy releasing a shin.
Second Weekend 2018
|
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.