Third Weekend of Banding 2021

Hello Everyone,

This is my third report of the 2021 banding season, covering the weekend of September 18th, 2021.

Saturday, September 18th

Trudi and I met Rick, Nancy, and Chuck at Hawk Harbor Saturday morning at 8:00 am. We moved our camping gear into the trailers and put the banding gear into the back of Rick's pick-up truck. With the full team in place, it took us only a few minutes to get set up. We started our banding operation at 8:45. The winds were variable with a clear sky.

Our first bird of the weekend was an adult female Sharp-shinned hawk that came in at 8:53. That one was followed by three more shins and a bounce-out before we caught a young male Merlin at 9:50. We caught another shin and then had another one bounce out before we caught our first Red-tailed hawk of the day at 11:53. Our next bird was a shin and then we got our second Red-tailed hawk. After that we caught another shin, followed by our third red-tail. It seemed that the red-tails were moving in a wave as several passed over us, giving us a look, while the other ones got caught.

We banded three more shins with the last one coming in at 1:06 and then birds quit moving. We kept on trying until a young female Peregrine falcon flew over at 3:54. She made a couple lazy circles over us, but didn't come in. We closed down at 4:15 pm.

That evening, we all packed into Rick's truck and drove in to have supper on the deck of the Earthwood Inn, just outside of Two Harbors. (Best hamburgers and fries on the North Shore!) When we got back to Hawk Harbor, we made a small campfire and Trudi brought out cake with candles to celebrate Nancy and Rick's recent birthdays. I got the biggest surprise, however, as Rick and the banding team had all plotted for weeks to get me a compact portable HOT SHOWER unit as a pre-birthday present!!! You'll never hear me complaining about getting into my sleeping bag feeling "clammy" or "grungy" again!!! Thank You All so much!!! I had a wonderful hot shower before going to bed that night.

We got a total of 14 birds and 2 bounce-outs on Saturday.

10 Sharp-shinned hawks, 1 Merlin, and 3 Red-tailed hawks.

Sunday, September 19th

Sunday morning, Trudi fixed hot chocolate and put out some cookies and donuts for the team. We were back up at the blind and ready to go at 7:45. Skies were clear with variable winds switching around to the Southwest.

Around 8:30, Gina Gorlaski and her daughter Emma stopped by for a visit. Gina used to bring groups from the Minnesota Zoo up to see our banding station. She and her daughter were on their way to a "girls' weekend out" camping on Madeline Island. We had just settled in when a Merlin started diving at the fake owl. Rick pulled the lure, but it didn't want to leave the owl. However, a larger bird had seen the lure and was coming fast and straight in at us. It hit the net at 8:53, and turned out to be a young male Peregrine falcon!!! We banded it, took a load of photos and Emma released it.

Our next bird was a sharp-shinned hawk and Gina released that one. Soon after that, Gina and Emma left to go camping. We caught three more shins and my brother Mike, who had stopped in on his way to a wedding up the shore, let one of those go. I was out in front of the blind going to film Trudi releasing our 99th bird of the year when the 100th bird of the year came blasting in from the north, totally ignoring us! We caught 7 more shins and had one shin bounce-out before closing down for the weekend at 12:30.

We got a total of 14 birds and 1 bounce-out on Sunday.

13 Sharp-shinned hawks and 1 Peregrine falcon.

28 total birds for the weekend.

107 total birds for the season.

Please help hawks by supporting: Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory, Midwest Peregrine Society, National Eagle Center, Raptor Resource Project, The Raptor Center, and Twin Cities Metro Osprey Watch.

Keep your eyes on the skies!

Trudi & Frank Taylor