Eighth Weekend of Banding 2019

Hello Everyone,

This is my eighth report of the 2019 banding season, covering the weekend of October 19th, 2019.

THIS SEASON MARKS OUR 50th CONSECUTIVE YEAR OF TRAPPING HAWKS AT THE MATTSON FARM ! ! !

Wednesday, October 16th

Nancy and Chuck brought their son David and his family up to the banding station for one day of trapping. Chuck, Nancy, David, Nikki, Leo, Duncan, and James caught one Red-tailed hawk and two Northern Goshawks.

They got a total of three hawks on Wednesday.

1 Red-tailed hawk and 2 Northern Goshawks.

Saturday, October 19th

Saturday morning Rick, Chuck, and I met Todd around 8:00 at Hawk Harbor. Nancy and Trudi stayed home this weekend. We took Rick's truck with all the banding gear and drove up to the banding station. Todd went over to his spot and we were all ready to go at 8:30. The sky was overcast but clearing. Winds were light and variable. A few Sharp-shinned hawks started moving with some eagles and a lot of crows.

Around 9:00, Chad Heins, a professor at Bethany Lutheran College who has been coming up each year since 2006, arrived with two students, four of his children, and one of his son's friends. We put up the overflow blind, got everyone settled in and waited. . . . . and waited, . . . . . and waited! Nearly all of the shins coming over were adults and didn't even look at our lure. Around noon, our Hawk Harbor neighbor Don, brought out a partial deer carcass. Don often brings out "stuff" so that eagles, vultures, and ravens might be "enticed" to land in the field out in front of us so that visitors have something to watch when the migration is slow. Thanks, Don!

We waited some more . . . and then we had one shin make a pass at the lure around 1:00. It went over the top of the net, into the woods, and kept on going. We finally got our first and only bird of the weekend at 3:20. A female Merlin was spotted zipping along the South side of the field. It made a shallow pass at the fake owl, saw our lure, and came straight in. By this time we were all super excited to see a bird coming in and we were bummed when it made the first pass without hitting the net. Luckily, it came around for a second go, and this time it charged right in to the center of the front net! Yessss!!! We banded it, took a load of photos, and picked Noah, one of the students, to do the release. This was Noah's first time at our banding station and he was very delighted to do the release. Chad and his group left around 4:00, and we closed down at 5:00.

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

1 Merlin

Sunday, October 20th

Sunday morning was bright and clear, a great day to be on the North Shore! When we drove up to the blind just before 8:00, we bumped a red-tail, two eagles, some ravens, and a flock of crows feeding on the deer carcass. Seeing so many birds in the field made us think that we might catch a few that day. Some shins started coming over, but all of them again were adults and not interested in our lure. Rick, Chuck, and I got to thinking how this was so much like "fishing buddies" who get together every year and sit in a boat for hours with nothing biting. So even though we didn't catch anything that day, the "three old men in a box" had a great time. We sat watching the deer carcass and there was this one adult Red-tailed hawk that was bolder than any of the other birds and kept coming back to stuff his beak. Things were pretty slow so we closed down at 11:00.

Closing down so early gave me a chance to stop by Hawk Ridge. They were having a nice flight of red-tails, some shins, some eagles and a couple rough legs. What a joy to sit there and watch as the hawks passed overhead. I have a feeling I'll be doing more of that as I get older, since the banding trips are getting a little more difficult each year. Fifty years in the same field was my goal and now that I have achieved that, everything else is a bonus.

We got a total of 0 birds and 0 bounce-outs on Sunday.

Skunked Day!

We got a total of 4 birds and 0 bounce-outs for the week.

1 Red-tailed Hawk, 2 Northern Goshawks and 1 Merlin.

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!