Ninth Weekend of Banding 2018

Hello Everyone,

This was our ninth and last weekend of banding for the 2018 season.

NEXT SEASON WILL BE OUR 50th CONSECUTIVE YEAR OF TRAPPING HAWKS AT THE MATTSON FARM.

I drove to Hawk Harbor by myself on Saturday morning as Trudi was visiting relatives in Florida. I got there around 7:30 and Rick was already there but Todd had stayed home to work on his truck. Nancy and Chuck pulled in a few minutes later. To our surprise upon arrival we noticed two portable toilets instead of the one we usually rent for the season. There was a note inside the second one stating that the driver of the service truck had to go pick up some rentals in Two Harbors and didn't have enough room on the truck for all of them, so he left us an extra complimentary one all primed and ready for use! We loaded up Rick's truck with the banding gear, headed up to the banding station and had everything set and ready to start at 9:00.

It was not a good day for banding as there was a slight drizzle and the winds were light out of the South. Only a few crows, ravens and Blue Jays were moving around at all. It was also a bit hazy and when I looked over at the South side of the field, I spotted what I thought was a young Red-tailed Hawk sitting in a tree. After calling it out and getting everyone else excited, Rick took a look with his 12 power binoculars and calmly stated that it, in fact, was a "Clumper's Hawk". A Clumper's Hawk is, in reality, only a clump of leaves that resembles a hawk perched in a tree. The banding team immediately questioned the outcome of my recent eye surgery and it will take me most of the next banding season to live that one down! In the past, even with good vision, I have on occasion also pointed out "Sharp-stick Hawks" (a broken branch that looks like a hawk) and "Bag-tailed Hawks" (a plastic bag hung up in a tree that looks like a young Red-tailed Hawk). We sat there for another hour or so before we spotted our first migrating raptor, an adult Bald Eagle that passed us way to the South, right over my Clumper's Hawk. Around 10:30, five members of the University of Minnesota Fish & Wildlife Club came out to visit us. We gave them a tour of the station and settled them all into the main blind, hoping to see any bird that might be catchable.

We sat there for hours watching the Blue Jays come in, grab some corn, and fly off to their private stashes. This group was extremely patient as most of them had been, or will be, working in situations outdoors, under extremely adverse and boring conditions. I was explaining how on some days banding was a lot like fishing, nothing biting for hours when suddenly one will strike. Or, we could sit here all day and not get a thing. Finally, at 1:07, I spotted a hunting shin at the far end of the draw. Rick pulled the lure line and it locked on. It made a textbook perfect, low approach all the way from the other end of the field and slammed right into the front net in full view of everyone! We showed them how we band it and record the data and then we lined up for a group photo. While we were doing the "Numbers Game" to decide who would release the shin, our friends Jen and Tim from Duluth came up. So, we reassembled for an adjusted group photo and then Hope released the shin.

Other than a couple of deer that walked by around 3:30, we didn't see much else for the rest of the day. A few Bald Eagles and a few Rough-Legged Hawks went by, but they did not look. We closed down at 4:30 and went into the Perkins in Duluth for supper.

We got a total of 1 bird and no bounce-outs on Saturday.

1 Sharp-shinned Hawk

Sunday morning the sky was overcast but the winds were supposed to switch around from the North. We set up at 8:30 and started looking for hawks. My "Clumpers Hawk" was still there but we didn't see anything else until about 10:30 when a Northern Harrier came in to hunt the field. It made a few passes at the fake owl but didn't come anywhere near us. Some Bald Eagles started moving and a Rough-legged Hawk or two floated by. None of them were interested in our lure. At 11:00, a Sharp-shinned Hawk started buzzing the owl. Rick pulled the lure and it came right in. Yay!!! We didn't get skunked today! We banded it, took photos and Nancy released it. After that, hardly any birds were moving at all and the North winds that might have brought more birds never did develop, so we closed down for the season at 1:00.

We got a total of 1 bird and no bounce-outs on Sunday.

1 Sharp-shinned Hawk

Total for the weekend was 2 birds and no bounce-outs.

2 Sharp-shinned 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)

The Midwest Peregrine Society (http://midwestperegrine.umn.edu/)

Keep your eyes on the skies!

Trudi & Frank Taylor