Hello Everyone,
It's that time
of year again, when we start our weekly trips up to the banding station. This
is my first report of the 2019 banding
season, covering the Labor Day weekend of August
31st, 2019.
In the fall of 1970,
Larry Schendel, Joel Ronning and I were young falconers trapping hawks up on
Hawk Ridge in Duluth, MN. Jan Green, the famous author of bird books, came by
and said the spot we were in would soon be made into a protected area for
raptors. So we packed up our gear and drove up the shore looking for another
suitable place to trap. We found a farm with a large hay field, just off the
shore, half way between Duluth and Two Harbors. I went up to knock on the door
of the farmhouse and ask for permission to set up in the hay field. That's when
I met Roy and Helen Mattson, two of the nicest people I have ever known. They
not only gave us permission to trap, but also told us kids that we could safely
camp in their yard, plug in to the electric outlet of their equipment shed, and
get water from their garden faucet! Their kindness and generosity inspired me
to return to their farm every year since.
THIS SEASON MARKS OUR 50th CONSECUTIVE YEAR OF
TRAPPING HAWKS AT THE MATTSON FARM ! ! !
This year I have some
sad news to report. Roy Mattson, the owner of the farm with the hay field we
band in, passed away on February 13th, 2019, just two days shy of his 99th
birthday. I am forever indebted to Roy and his late wife Helen, as well as to
their son Don and their daughter Dottie, who are allowing us to continue our
banding operations at their family farm.
Since my last banding
report, I have been doing more digital renderings of my raptor and train photos
(see my last blog post of August 2019). My Red-tailed hawk Mim and I had a good
hunting season. This was her 14th year with me. Over the summer, Trudi and I
have been enjoying our grandkids, traveling and spending time out on our
pontoon. In August, Trudi and I,
along with local falconers, set up and manned the Minnesota Falconers tent and
weathering display at the Game Fair in Anoka, MN. This was our 38th year
representing falconry at this Game Fair.
In my retirement, I
continue to add short videos of my varied interests to my You Tube page. If you
would like to see some of them, 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.
Saturday, August 31st
On
Saturday, Rick, Chuck, Nancy, Trudi and I met Todd at Hawk Harbor (our land and
camping area across the road from the main banding station) to get organized
for the year. Our friend and falconer Bruce Gilbertson stopped by in his
pick-up truck to say hi. This was very fortunate for us since Rick's pick-up
(that usually takes us and the gear up), was in the shop for a new brake job.
Bruce helped load the gear and drove us, along with all the equipment, up to
the blind. The field had not been hayed yet, so carrying the gear through the
tall grass would have been very difficult. The blind was in pretty good shape
from last year, so we swept, weed-whipped, and set up, officially starting the
2019 banding season at 10 AM.
It
was a clear, balmy day with almost no wind. At 10:43, a young female shin that
was harassing a Blue Jay out in the draw saw our lure and flew in to have the
privilege of becoming the first bird of the year in the books!!! We banded it,
took some photos and because it was Nancy's birthday, she got to release it.
When she released the shin, it doubled back towards the woods and flew right in
front of my lens. When we looked at the photo, it seemed as if she were
reaching out to pet a very large shin! At 2:37, a young male shin was the only other
bird banded that first day and my brother Mike, who was camping with us at Hawk
Harbor, released it.
In
honor of Nancy’s birthday, after a good dinner in Two Harbors, we came back to
Hawk Harbor for a celebration and some of her delicious Chocolate Zucchini Cake.
And then we were in for a surprise!! Chuck and Nancy presented each banding
team member with a beautiful North Shore
Banding 50th Year T-shirt!! We all modeled them proudly for the rest of the weekend.
We
got a total of 2 birds and no bounce-outs on Saturday.
2 Sharp-shinned Hawks.
Sunday,
September 1
After
the usual Hawk Harbor morning gathering, with hot chocolate, Nancy’s special
yummy cookies, more of her delicious Chocolate Zucchini Cake, and Rick’s
comprehensive weather report, we headed back up to the blind. Sunday was
another beautiful late summer North Shore day with light clouds and 6 mph SW
winds.
BUT
- nothing was moving. (Well,
actually lots of insects were moving: thousands of dragonflies began zipping
around over the field as the sun came up.) We started at 8 AM, and did not get
our first bird until 12:15, a young female shin. After a long afternoon, we
were about to quit at 4:30, since nothing was coming in, when we were happily
visited by a young female Merlin, flying in fast from the North. After being
banded and posing for photos, the Merlin was released by Rick.
We
got a total of 2 birds and no bounce-outs on Sunday.
1 Sharp-shinned Hawk and 1 Merlin.
Monday, Labor Day, September 2
By
Monday, apparently the birds had gotten the word that the migration was on, and
large V’s of geese, and groupings of Bald Eagles, Blue Jays, night hawks, and
passerines kept us busy searching out the raptors. Again, the thousands of dragonflies
flying close to us over the un-mown field presented us with a major
“distraction!” challenge, and several times we excitedly pointed out a hawk
that really was - oops! - a
dragonfly.
And,
it was another perfect day, looking out over the grassy field and the woods,
across sparkling Lake Superior to Wisconsin. It started with almost no wind and
picked up to light North winds during the morning.
Starting
at 8:00, we had only 14 minutes to wait for the first bird to band, a young
female shin, who nearly made us crazy by coming in from the North, skimming
over the front net, and bouncing out of the back net and then was caught in the
back of the front net! Bouncing around must have been in the air, because at
8:32, an aggressive male kestrel that was out bombing the fake owl, roared in,
bounced out of the front net, hit the front of the back net, hit the back of
the front net and bounced out again – and then, unfortunately – just kept
going. First bounce out of the year, but what a show!!
The
rest of the morning was busy, with a young male shin coming in at 9:12. A
female Merlin, following a small bird into the draw, came in to be banded at
9:25, followed by a “Surprise!” shin that ended up in the nets at 9:57. That
one sneaked in on us with no one seeing it coming while we were all
concentrating on another “possible” shin up the field. The last bird of the
day, another young female shin, joined us at 10:47. We closed up at noon, since
we all had to negotiate the holiday traffic back to our homes, and Rick is
still a working man!
We
got a total of 5 birds and 1 bounce-out on Monday.
4 Sharp-shinned Hawks and 1 Merlin.
The Weekend
What
a great weekend! Special treat for the weekend was having the Taylor brothers
Mike, Tony, and Dan and wife Kate, and now Duluth residents Bruce and Kris
Gilbertson join us. Special thanks again to Chuck and Nancy for their unique
and thoughtful North Shore Banding 50th
Year T-shirts!!
Even
on days without many birds to band, the stunning North Shore makes this a great
place to spend the hours "fishing from the sky"! We are looking
forward to having the Minnesota Falconer’s Meeting here next weekend, and
anticipate that a number of falconers will join us at Hawk Harbor to camp.
Should be a good time!
We
got a total of 9 birds and 1 bounce-out for the weekend.
7 Sharp-shinned Hawks and 2 Merlins.
In an effort to keep this email file small and save some
time resizing photos, I am including my
"North Shore Banding - Frank Taylor" link so you
can look at the photos from this weekend.
Click on the link below and then scroll down to the bottom
of the text to see all the photos. You can also review any of my weekly reports
from the last few years by clicking on the posting date links on the right side
of that page.
Remember also, to 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)
Midwest Peregrine Society (https://midwestperegrine.umn.edu/)
Raptor Resource Project (https://www.raptorresource.org/)
Twin Cities Metro Osprey Watch (http://ospreywatch.blogspot.com/)
Keep
your eyes on the skies!
Trudi &
Frank Taylor
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01. Bruce and his truck hauled all the gear up to the blind.
Chuck, Bruce and Trudi with all the gear.
First Weekend 2019
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02. Nancy and Chuck had T-shirts made for the banding team
to celebrate our 50 consecutive years of catching hawks in the Mattson hay
field. Chuck, Nancy, Me, Trudi, Todd and Rick.
First Weekend 2019
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03. I started catching hawks in the Mattson farm hay field
in September of 1970. The first 12 years I was trapping hawks every year with
friends for falconry birds under a federal falconry permit. For the next 8
years, I banded raptors as a sub-bander under a federal banding permit from
Mike Erickson. And, for the last 30 years, I have been banding raptors under my
own Master-Personal banding permit for a grand total of 50 YEARS!
First Weekend 2019
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04. The shirts were a complete surprise to me! They used one
of my digital renderings of a Goshawk in the design and picked just the right
colors to give it a bold look. I love it !!!
First Weekend 2019
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05. Our first bird of the year, a young female Sharp-shinned
hawk.
First Weekend 2019
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06. Rick, Nancy, Chuck, Bruce and Trudi holding the first
bird of the year.
First Weekend 2019
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07. Chuck and Nancy with the shin. It was Nancy's birthday,
so she got to release the first bird of the year.
First Weekend 2019
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08. Nancy petting her GIANT birthday shin as she sent it on
its way!
First Weekend 2019
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09. Second and only other bird of the day, a young male
Sharp-shinned hawk.
First Weekend 2019
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10. My youngest brother Mike releasing the shin.
First Weekend 2019
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11. Sunday morning shin.
First Weekend 2019
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12. Rick, Nancy, Chuck and Trudi holding the shin while
modeling our banding team shirts.
First Weekend 2019
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13. Trudi releasing the shin.
First Weekend 2019
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14. Rick and Chuck with our first Merlin of the year.
First Weekend 2019
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15. Nice looking female Merlin.
First Weekend 2019
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16. Rick, Chuck and Nancy with the Merlin.
First Weekend 2019
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17. Rick releasing the Merlin.
First Weekend 2019
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18. Rick in the luring seat and Trudi recording the data on
Monday morning.
First Weekend 2019
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19. The first bird on Monday was a young female
Sharp-shinned hawk.
First Weekend 2019
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20. Rick and Chuck taking the shin out of the net.
First Weekend 2019
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21. Frank and Trudi with the Monday morning shin.
First Weekend 2019
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22. Trudi and I
releasing the shin.
First Weekend 2019
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23. Our second female Merlin of the weekend.
First Weekend 2019
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24. Chuck and Rick taking the Merlin out of the net.
First Weekend 2019
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25. Rick and Chuck with the Merlin.
First Weekend 2019
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26. Nice sized Merlin.
First Weekend 2019
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27. A serious looking Merlin.
First Weekend 2019
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28. Trudi releasing the Merlin.
First Weekend 2019
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29. A young female Sharp-shinned hawk.
First Weekend 2019
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30. Chuck releasing the shin.
First Weekend 2019
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31. My brother Dan and his wife Kate stopped by to show us
the Scamp trailer that they just bought.
First Weekend 2019
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32. Dan, Kate, Trudi and my brother Tony, who also stopped
by.
First Weekend 2019
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33. My older brother Tony.
First Weekend 2019
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