Fifth Weekend of Banding 2021

Hello Everyone,

This is my fifth report of the 2021 banding season, covering the weekend of October 2nd, 2021.

Saturday, October 2nd

After four great weekends of good banding weather and catching record numbers of birds, we knew our luck would have to run out sooner or later. Well, this was that weekend. It's no fun sitting in the blind with South winds and ice cold rain pelting you in the face while you are trying to spot incoming birds. The forecast looked bad, so we canceled on Friday.

I decided I would go up on Saturday anyway since I wanted to remove the mowing deck from our old riding mower and use the mower as a poor man's four wheeler to run back and forth from Hawk Harbor to the banding blind. Trudi had some things she needed to do at home, so I went up alone. I got there about an hour before the rain started and was able to remove the mowing deck.

After that, I got to thinking about a photo that my Canadian Facebook friend Lauren had posted recently. She put up a photo of some french fries covered in brown gravy. We used to call that "Canadian Fries" and would order them after a long day in a cold blind at the Lake View Castle restaurant back in the 80s. Then, I got to thinking how good the fries were at the Earthwood Inn where we ate a couple weeks ago. Also, I thought of the delicious mushroom and onion brown gravy that Culver's puts on their chopped steak dinner, and Voila', my nostalgic supper scheme emerged! I drove to the Culver's in Two Harbors and picked up 4 sides of their gravy. (The young lady taking the order said it was her strangest order so far.) Then I swung by the Earthwood Inn and got an order of their fries to go. I zipped back to Hawk Harbor and combined the two, popped open my beverage of choice (Diet Pepsi), and a legendary meal followed! WOW!!! Did that taste GREAT! It really "hit the spot" on that chilly, drizzly night! I topped off my excellent meal with a nice warm shower, made possible by the generous birthday gift from the banding team, and settled in for the night.

Sunday, October 3rd

It rained off and on all night. It was still foggy and drizzly when I got up in the morning and fixed some hot chocolate. I closed down Hawk Harbor and headed out to see if I could get some photos around the Duluth area before heading home. I drove up past Hawk Ridge (very foggy). Then I drove over to Superior, Wisconsin, and got some tugboat and ship photos (very foggy). After that, I stopped at Proctor, Minnesota, to see if I could get some railroad photos (also very foggy). Then I headed for home.

0 total birds due to a cancelled weekend.

Still,155 total birds for the season.

Please help hawks by supporting:

Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory (www.hawkridge.org)

Midwest Peregrine Society (https://midwestperegrine.umn.edu/)

National Eagle Center (www.nationaleaglecenter.org)

Raptor Resource Project (https://www.raptorresource.org/)

The Raptor Center (www.raptor.cvm.umn.edu)

Twin Cities Metro Osprey Watch (http://ospreywatch.blogspot.com/)

Keep your eyes on the skies!

Trudi & Frank Taylor

01. Having Earthwood Inn fries with 4 sides of Culver's
mushroom and onion gravy for supper at Hawk Harbor.
Reminds me of the "Good Old Days" (the 80's) at the Lake View Castle restaurant.