Wet Wild Duluth Bird Trip

That's our wind swept field trip from this past Saturday. One of the fun things about leading trips to Hawk Ridge in Duluth, MN is that when the weather is right and you get winds out of the northwest, you get a fabulous trip with gorgeous weather and see thousands of hawks. Alas, you cannot as of yet demand these days from Mother Nature and I had a reminder of that on Saturday when I led a trip with Stan Tekiela. Weather prediction: rain and winds out of the southeast.

It was raining at Frank Taylor's hawk banding station, our first stop. I warned our group that on wet and rainy days, those are guaranteed peregrine falcon days. Sure, we wouldn't see the thousands of hawks flying over in migration that Duluth is known for, but boy howdy, these types of days guarantee a peregrine sighting. They are a bird that relies more on powered flight and can fly in any type of weather, unlike the the other hawks that are looking to glide on thermals. Little did I know how right I would be this day. When we arrived, we found a group huddled around a passage peregrine falcon female that had just come into the nets.

When they took her out of the nets, it was discovered that she had a broken leg--that's not how I wanted our group to get their guaranteed peregrine on a rainy day. Fortunately, several members of the Minnesota Falconers Association were at Frank's blind and talents were available for triage. Thanks to some painter's tape, a stick, panty hose, and a falconer's hood, her leg was set, she was secure to avoid further injury, and she was ready to go to a rehab facility. Since our group was heading back to the Twin Cities that day, we offered to take her to The Raptor Center on our way home. Wow! A bird trip and injured bird transport service all in one! I'll find out on Tuesday when I volunteer at TRC if she is still alive. The break looked to be a few days old and she was very thin, you could feel her sharp keel.

The falconers had put a hood on her to keep her calm. When birds can't see what's going on or if they are in the dark, they stay calm and relaxed. She worked off her hood, but fortunately we had a box with a lid so she could stay in a dark spot and be calm. Note how light her head is? I think that is a tundrius subspecies of peregrine, meaning she was probably hatched in or near the Arctic. No one can know for sure since she didn't have a band, but considering that it's migration and the tundrius is a migratory subspecies and a paler form, it is a good guess. Hope she makes it, but if not, at least she didn't have to starve and suffer for several days before finally coming to an end.

Despite the pouring rain, some sharp-shinned hawks did come into the nets, including this beautiful adult. I was glad that our group got to experience watching at least one bird fly into the nets.

Okay, is this not the most adorable photo of Hasty Brook? At one point there were two sharp-shins and Frank gave one to me to hold while he got the blinds back up and he was picking who would be the lucky ones to release them. I gave Hasty Brook the hawk to hold for a minute. Look at the excitement in those eyes.

And I made sure everyone in our group had a chance to stop and smell the birds. It's not every day that you have a chance to smell a wet bird. I love the way birds smell.

Frank was so gracious to show us around and how his nets are set up despite the rain. I also have to say that the people in our group were real troopers to put with it at well.

Here are some members of our group releasing a couple of sharp-shinned hawks in the rain.

After Frank's blind, we headed to Hawk Ridge proper and the sun came out just as we arrived--a chance to dry out. We got to see some hawk movement and several white-throated sparrows hanging around the bushes. I have to give some major bonus points to the staff at Hawk Ridge this year. They have shirts...in girl sizes... and they look cute. I highly recommend checking out their gift shop--if not for helping support the Ridge, if in support of cute bird shirts for girls that flatter our figures.

Just as our group was about to leave, one of the Hawk Ridge staff told me that a red-tailed hawk was coming out from their banding station and our group could have a chance to see that up close. Though we didn't see a ton of species, we were getting to see some up close view of some really awesome hawks. I got this shot of the hawk being released. I love the few feathers hanging in the air as the bird flies away.

From Hawk Ridge, we headed down to Park Point. The clouds came in and the winds were high off of Lake Superior. The great thing about Park Point is that usually when the weather is crap at the Ridge, the birding is great along the shore.

We did find some black-bellied plovers in fall plumage running around on the beach of Lake Superior. When we first spotted them, we weren't sure if they were black-bellied plovers or American golden plovers--the look similar and both are possible this time of year. Eventually, they flew and we could see their "black armpits" confirming them as black-bellied plovers.

Again, I have to stress what troopers our participants were. It's not easy to go running hither and yon in a rainy day looking for birds, but they stuck with us, made several jokes, saw some cool birds, and help transport an injured falcon to medical help. Job well done in my book.

Turkey Terrorizes Neighborhood in Blaine, MN

Boy, some weeks it really is like living in the movie Fargo. Friday morning all of the stations were covering a story about the Minnesota Attorney General going after one of the major cell phone companies for trapping customers into extended contracts. An angry customer was interviewed at the press conference and gave us this lovely sound bite:

"I'd like to give their CEO a swift boot right in the patootie."

If you click on the above link, you can watch the video and hear the quote delivered in a fine Minnesota accent.

And we also have have a story of a turkey ruling the roost in a suburb of the Twin Cities:

A fearless fowl has been strutting along Cloverleaf Parkway in Blaine since spring, delighting senior citizens, annoying police and mail carriers, and frightening schoolchildren waiting for the bus.

"It went after elementary kids at a bus stop, and it doesn't scare away," said Police Chief Dave Johnson, whose department has fielded numerous turkey calls.

Johnson said an officer called one day to report that the Cloverleaf turkey had him trapped in his squad car.

Read the rest of the story here.

Carpenter Banding

It was another beautiful day at Carpenter Nature Center--and busy! There were so many birds to band that I didn't have time to get photos of the Lincoln's sparrow, orange-crowned warbler, and the first junco of the season (although, I think I will have ample opportunity of getting junco photos in the near future). It's so weird to see juncos and hummingbirds all in the same day. I did have time to get photos of a palm warlber in the above photo. Here's another:

Thanks to all the readers who sent kind notes about my incorrect id in the blog when I originally posted this as a yellow-rumped warbler, they are correct, it is a palm warlbers. Although as soon as I got out of my car I could hear yellow-rumps thick in the trees--kissing sounds everywhere. I'm now to the point where I get to band whatever bird someone hands me or that I get out of the net. I thought this was exciting until I had to start aging and sexing the fall warblers. And if it's any consolation--it's not any easier to do them in hand than it is when they are in the trees. I think we ended saying this one was an after hatch year female. I would tell you how...but then I would have to kill you.

Here was a Tennessee warbler that Larry was banding. I was trying to help him age and sex this bird by reading through Pyle. We were trying to determine between after hatch year male and female. Here are just one of the differences according to Pyle: male--underparts with a moderate yellow wash and female--underparts lightly washed yellow.

Hmmmmm. Can you tell the difference between those two? Ah, Pyle, I kid, because I love. In all seriousness, Pyle is a helpful book to banders, but sometimes you come across weird bits like that and they just make you want to hit your head and against the table and say, "Huh?"

A fun surprise what a Philadelphia vireo. When it was first tangled in the net, I thought it was a warbler. But when I got it out, I knew it was some kind of vireo. They really are quite small and just to give you an idea, check out this photo at Hilton Pond of a green-breasted mango next to a Philadelphia vireo (that photo was taken in Costa Rica). That's one big hummer next to one small vireo.

We also banded a ruby-crowned kinglet. This little stinker was flashing its red crown like crazy when it was in the bag waiting to be banded, but once it was in hand, the ruby crown became subdued. You can see a hint of it in the above photo. The kinglet, half bird, half mouse.

After banding, I went out to get photos of some photos of unfettered birds among the autumn foliage. The song sparrows were quick to perch up to a little pishing. There were quite a few other sparrows lurking about in the brush: white-throated, Lincoln's, clay-colored, and one or two field sparrows.

I did find this sad looking song sparrow. It looks like it's asking, "Have you seen my tail anywhere?"

Now, off to bed, I have to get up early for a field trip I'm leading to Hawk Ridge in the morning. Also, if you still have not been to Carpenter this fall, it's still absolutely gorgeous. What are you waiting for? Great color and lots of apples on sale. Get thee hence!

Autumn Hummingbirds

Okay, just to prove that the "take your hummingbird feeder in on Labor Day" is bunk, we still have hummingbirds coming to our feeder: Not only that, but someone who lives in Duluth, MN reported a hummingbird at his feeders yesterday. This is normal hummingbird movement this time of year and good reason to keep the feeders out--get that last reminder of summer before they head south across the Gulf of Mexico.

Speaking of hummingbird migration, Scott Weidensaul mentioned there is a study he and others are conducting on the increased number of western hummingbirds that are showing up in the eastern U.S. (we just had a green-breasted mango in Beloit, WI).

The researchers are banding hummers when they can and Scott is theorizing that we may be seeing a new migratory route being developed by some of these populations. A route that takes them from the western US across the continent to the east coast and then south. He noted that many of these birds are turning up later in the season. Another reason to keep those hummingbird feeders out.

Hen Of The Woods

I don't have any excuse or text to really go with this red-breasted nuthatch, I just thought it was cute, perched in the sun.

So, this morning I went to check on the shaggy mane mushrooms I found yesterday and they were well on their way to be coming an inky cap. Here's an up close shot of the inky:

Check it out, it kind of looks like blood, so that combined with the auto digestion just creeps me out and makes me not want to eat it. However, I took a walk with Non Birding Bill and not far from where we found the sulphur shelf tree, we found:

Hen of the Woods! Super Yummy! Mr. Neil found some last year and asked all of us to keep an eye open while he's been traveling so we could harvest and save it for him. Hen of the Woods is different than Chicken of the Woods (that's sulphur shelf) and as I understand it, gets its name from looking like a fluffed up chicken sitting on the ground. It's also known as maitake which you may find from time to time in grocery stores.

Check it out, mushrooms bigger than my head (now that is big). Usually when you find them, you find several pounds at a time. I called my buddy Stan to do a little bragging and find out what his favorite way is to preserve them. He highly recommended drying them. There was plenty to go around, so I decided to freeze some and to dry some so Mr. Neil could have some options when he gets home.

First thing I had to do was slice them up and make sure to get the bugs and dirt off them. The slices reminded me of coral.

Check out the cool patterns in the stem, kind of reminds me of a geode.

Even NBB couldn't wait to eat the mushrooms. I put some of the slices on a cookie sheet making sure they weren't touching and placed them in the deep freezer. Once they were rock solid, I put them in baggies and left them in the freezer.

Per Stan's instructions, I chopped some of the slices into one inch pieces and put them in the food dehydrator. Stan prefers this method because when you rehydrate them, you end up creating a very rich mushroom broth this is perfect for soups.

By the end of the day the pieces were dry and we placed them in mason jar for later use.

By the end of the day, the inky cap was very black and surprisingly dry. There are more popping up in the yard and in the woods.

Here's the inside of the inky cap, kinda freaky.

And now I realized that I am very tired and must get to sleep if I'm going to wake up in time for banding.

Death By Propolis?

Well, here's something unexpected. I went to put some feeder pails out for the Kitty and Olga hives today. When I opened the lid to Olga, I found a drone stuck by the head to the propolis trap.

I could see him hanging when I lifted the lid. When I set it on the ground, he remained rigid in this head stand position. He's been dead awhile, but he sort of looks like he's in some weird yoga pose. I wonder how he managed that? Perhaps the workers did it because they are tired of the drones eating the honey and doing nothing but going on their daily flights to look for a queen to mate with and return day after day, unsuccessful virgins. It's easy to tell if a drone is still a virgin--because it's still alive. Once they mate with a queen, they die in process.

The Olga hive has been in propolis overload. When I went to switch the feeder pail, they had glued it to the boards with propolis. I admire their efforts, but it makes feeding them a bit of a challenge.

In other news, I found a fifth edible fungus in Mr. Neil's yard today--a shaggy mane. I've read different explanations of how tasty it is, but I didn't try it because I didn't have time to prepare it and once you pick it, the fungus will quickly autodigest turning into a black liquid--bleh. It will do it a little slower if you don't pick it, which is what give this mushroom its folk name, the inky cap. Plus, Mr. Neil isn't in town and no one else around seems as interested in the wild edible shrooms.

Interesting Info From Banding Birds

I keep trying to write this blog entry, but my rabbit insists on using me as a jungle gym, making typing most difficult.

Here's a photo of last weekend's banding crew (the only bummer is that Frank Taylor, the guy who runs the blind isn't in it). But from left to right we have Reier Grudem, Joan Schnabel, me, Amber Burnette (holding a red-tailed hawk), Rick Dupont, and Katy Dupont.

Frank Taylor just included this photo in his weekly banding report. That's me in the pigeon yanking seat holding the pigeon line and a sharp-shinned hawk I lured into the banding station by pulling the pigeon. Whoot!

Above are two haggard (adult) sharp-shinned hawks. So, I gave you the info for how we have the banding station set up, now let's talk about some of the interesting things observed over last weekend. First off, birds were all over, both songbirds and raptors. Saturday morning, Amber, Reier and I arrived at the field and could see sharp-shinned hawks, harriers, merlins all moving and could hear blue jays all over. You would see flocks of blue jays miles away in your binoculars and there would always be at least one sharp-shinned hawk mixed in with the flock.

In the above photo is both a haggard (towards the back) and a passage (first year) sharp-shinned hawk. Note the difference in eye color and that the younger bird is brown and white and the older birds is dark blue with and orange breast. The passage sharp-shins were in hunting mode and were bound and determined to take out a blue jay. You would hear a flock of blue jays screaming and then all of a sudden you'd hear one give a strange honking call and that was usually a shin hot on its tail. We also saw flocks of smaller birds in the fields in front of the blind. At one point we had a white-crowned sparrow feeding in the grass in front of us. Just as we identified what type of sparrow it was, a passage sharp-shinned hawk flew down, landed on it, killed it and flew away with it's prize--in less than 40 seconds. It's was a much more effortless affair than the Cooper's hawk incident from yesterday.

Above is an up close shot of a haggard sharp-shinned. It was one of the busiest weekends I've ever experienced at this little hawk banding station. On Saturday we banded 32 birds (29 sharp-shins and 3 red-tails) and on Sunday we banded 34 birds on Sunday (33 sharp-shins, and 1 Merlin). We did have quite a few heart breaks, including birds bouncing out of the nets before we could get to them and one mouthy little female kestrel. When the kestrels come into the net, you are sure they are going to come in, but they always seem to find the net at the last second and dodge out of the way. This particular female, flew right to us with no intention of going for the pigeon and landed on one of the poles that holds the net. She looked directly to the blind and gave the loud kestrel cry--pretty much the equivalent of giving us the bird. It was as if she were screaming, "Hey, I know you guys are here and any predator withing the sound of my voice should stay away!!" We must have had her in the nets before.

Here's a haggard red-tailed hawk that came into the nets. This bird was a bit thin and its bill was a tad crusty looking. As Amber was banding it, she noticed that the left eye was clouded over. When you waved a finger in front of it, the hawk could see out of it at all.

Obviously the hawk had not been surviving well with this disability, but it had been surviving. Who knows exactly how long the birds had been living with sight in only one eye. The bird has been alive at least three years. When red-tailed hawks are young, they have yellow eyes (note the yellow eyes of a passage red-tailed hawk in the next photo). Their eyes get darker as they get older, this bird could very well be 15 years old. Glaucoma doesn't develop overnight, perhaps it has been such a gradual change the hawk has had a chance to adjust it's hunting style. Reier noted how it flew to take to view the bait pigeon and really, had the nets not been there, it would have been able to catch it. There really aren't any treatments for bird glaucoma so taking to the Raptor Center wasn't an option. After banding it, we let it go. Maybe it will survive another few years or maybe it's going to end its last days in a blaze of glory.

For a comparison, here's a very healthy passage red-tailed hawk, note the yellow eyes? This bird was having some tail issues:

Check it out, it's missing quite a few feather and has a mixture of both first year red-tail brown feathers and a red tail feather--what the heck is going on? Frank speculated that the tails feathers had been grabbed, maybe by another red-tail in a territorial fight, or by a nest mate, or even some other predator. The feathers are starting to grow back in, and the new feathers are growing in red because the body says "hey, after the second set, these should be red" but at the same time, the feathers are supposed to be brown striped, so you get some striping in there too. And since we have a photo of a red-tailed hawk with the wing extended, note how the wings look very long in relation to the body, and the tail is short in relation to the body--this is a characteristic of this type of hawk, known as a buteo. Compare that to a different hawk:

Here is a sharp-shinned hawk, they are accipiters and they have a shorter wing in relation to the body, and a very long tail--that's one way you can start to id hawks. When you see one, try to note if the tail is long or short compared to the body and if the wings look long or short. Incidentally, this is one of the birds that I lured into the nets.

The birds were coming into the nets so quickly, that at times we barely had time to get photos or to release banded birds. We were getting ready to release this merlin (in front) and this sharp-shin when Rick yelled that some birds were coming into the nets. We just ran behind the blind rather than taking the time to go in. Sometimes that's faster and if you're quiet, the birds will still come into the nets. I was going to take a photo of these two when all of a sudden both looked up. They were seeing hawks fly over too.

When we have a chance, I like to get photos of people releasing hawks. My favorite thing to do is lay on the ground and get a wing shot of the bird. When you release a sharp-shinned hawk, you can pretty much just open your hand and they take off towards the woods right away.

Reier got a photo of me releasing a red-tailed hawk. They are little heftier and you have to kind of fling them into the air so they don't just thunk on the ground. Unlike the sharp-shinned hawks that head straight for the safety of the woods as soon as they are released, red-tails stay in the open and try to find the nearest thermal to lift high into the sky.

At one point we had two sharp-shins to release and one merlin. We released them all on once (that's the merlin in the middle). Note the shin on the right aiming right for me? That was courtesy of Katy. I told her that she could just let it drop towards me, boy I think she kind of threw it at me. It's okay, I had it coming, I was making fun of her for texting her friends from the blind. And if you're worried, the bird didn't hit me and made it safely to the woods.

We got to do several multiple releases. Here's a video of a sharp-shinned hawk release. I'm holding a sharp-shin and aiming my camera at my hands. But since two people next to me are releasing birds, it looks like a magic trick: one bird turns into three:

And for those who can't see video, here's a couple of consolation photos:

Haggard sharp-shinned hawk.

Passage merlin.

Embassy Suites Ducks

Some may remember earlier in the summer that I had a night of revelry at the St. Paul Embassy Suites and was surprised to find that they had ducks in their lobby. Well, some inebriated jerk killed one of them over the weekend. You can read about him here. Boy, doesn't he just sound like the grand prize on the Dating Game?

Struggle For Life In Uptown

We interrupt the regularly scheduled report on last weekend's hawk banding to inform you of an urban Cooper's hawk observation that happened today. WARNING! This post is not for the squeamish. In Nature, the fight for survival can be brutal and this post is going to describe an incident between a hawk and a pigeon. If you would rather think of all the animals and birds getting along like a Leo the Lion cartoon, you may want to skip reading the rest of this post.

I needed to take care of some grocery shopping this afternoon before we were hit with a line of thunder storms. When we came back from Duluth last night, you could feel the humidity, I had a tough time sleeping last and the air felt heavier throughout the day today. I left to go shopping and I as I walked past the side of my building, I noticed an odd lump next the bushes that border the apartment building's property. It suddenly dawned on me that the shape was a Cooper's hawk mantling over prey. There was white flash and I realized it had a pigeon and it wasn't quite dead. So, I dashed upstairs to my apartment for my digiscoping equipment.

I came back down and the hawk had changed position and was facing me with the pigeon. This was a Cooper's hawk hatched this year based on the brown and white plumage. It's also a female based on her size compared to the pigeon--she's a big ole girl. The hawk seemed antsy, and had a tough time balancing on top of the pigeon. When I took the second photo, I found out why:

The pigeon was still alive and struggling to free itself from the inexperienced hunter. I have always thought that Cooper's hawk was one of the worst ways to go--especially a young one that doesn't quite know how to use all of its equipment yet. Cooper's hawks squeeze repeatedly, and since their toes and talons are thinner than a red-tailed hawk, it's kind of like a death by sewing machine needles. When a Coops starts to feed, prey isn't always dead. Experienced birds can kill quicker, it makes it easier to feed and they don't waste as much energy. I started to debate with myself as to how long I can watch this, let alone take photos.

And then the pigeon rolled and was free (I took a photo but all that was left was a few feathers floating), it took off like a shot right over my head, the Cooper's followed in hot pursuit at eye level with me to the right side of my face. I felt a slight breeze in its wake. The pigeon crossed the busy street right over the cars, the Cooper's gained quickly. The pigeon raced over a parking lot towards some trees, the hawk caught up and nailed it in mid air, there was a puff of feathers and both fell to the ground.

I crossed the street at searched the parking lot. The young Cooper's hawk had made it to a small yard at the other end of the lot. If you look between the dark gray car and the yellow garage, you can see a small lump on the ground. That's the hawk. Don't worry, I got her in the scope:

The pigeon was still putting up a fight, although not much. You could still see it breathing the scope. The young and hungry hawk could no longer wait and had to feed.

You will note in some of the photos that her mouth is open. She was panting hard. I could feel sweat dripping down my back under my rain jacket from the humid conditions, I can't imagine what it feels like when you can't sweat, have to fly hard and try and kill something half your size to survive. I didn't approach any closer to the hawk, she was having a tough enough go at trying to eat for the day and I could get good enough photos from this distance.

As she was feeding, the pigeon finally stopped struggling and breathing. A few times the hawk would mantle--spread out her wings and tail to look big and intimidating and hide the prey. I wondered what would cause that.

I soon had my answer. A gray squirrel was investigating the situation, squealing out its protest of the hawk near its tree. I could hear cardinals chipping a warning to each other and robins giving their high pitched warning whistles as well. No one was happy about the Cooper's hawk.

The hawk continued to feed and then mantled one more time. This time and older gentleman and small dog were approaching, both appeared oblivious to the feeding hawk.

The man and dog were too much and the Cooper's flew away with its kill. I'm always amazed at what I spy in our neighborhood. I always wonder if my other neighbors ever notice this. Did the people driving down the street notice the pigeon with the hawk in pursuit mere feet in front of their windshield? I did feel bad for the pigeon (I feed them off my window ledge), but also realized that they hawk had been having a hard time of it herself just trying to survive. Will she able to continue to navigate the busy Uptown area already populated with quite a few adult Cooper's hawks? Will she last the fall and winter?

I will say, she looked so big compared to all the tiny sharp-shinned hawks we banded this past weekend. Speaking of which, we will now return to our regularly scheduled hawk banding updates.

Hawk Banding 101

I'm always amazed at how closely people pay attention to the blog. When I wrote earlier that I was on a tight budget and didn't know if I could go up hawk banding this fall, invitations came from all over for free housing. I am sometimes overwhelmed by friends and their generosity. Another example is what I say I'm going to blog about. While I was having a great time at the banding station, one of the sub banders named Rick said, "Aren't you going to take pictures of the setup?"

"Huh?" I asked.

"You said that you were going to explain how we band the hawks up here." he reminded me. And he was right, I do need to explain the set up so this post will explain that. One BIG point to stress about banding birds:

Because banding birds requires capturing the birds and handling them before the banding takes place, the banding of birds in the United States is controlled under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and requires a federal banding permit. Some states require a state permit as well. Only official federal bands may be legally placed on birds that are released to the wild within the United States.

You can read more about banding birds at the Bird Banding Lab. I'm fortunate enough to know several researchers who band different types of birds (pelicans, hawks, songbirds, herons) and allow me to tag along and carry equipment and now I'm to the point where I'm actually learning to do different aspects of it. This is just how this particular banding station works and records data, every station is different. This station in Duluth, MN is run by Frank Taylor, who has been banding hawks longer than even Hawk Ridge--38 years--and he doesn't look a day over 39.

Here are the nets. Can you see them? There are two different ones there, right in front of the trees--can't you see them? Heck, I took the photo and I can't even see them. Let's look at them from a different angle:

These are the front nets and this photo was taken from the banding blind where we hide while the hawks fly in. The nets form a sort of U-shape, with the open end of the U facing the blind. There are nets surrounding the bait bird (pigeon). Most hawks aim for the pigeon and fly into the front net, but some species are able to see the front net at the last second, dodge above it and as they go up and over, end up in the nets behind the pigeon. Sometimes, they hawks are so fast and maneuver so quick, they elude both front and back nets! It's incredible to watch the mad flight skills of all raptor species. Even a big chunky buteo like a red-tailed hawk has some fast peregrine moves inside it.

This is the pigeon harness. This is a vest of leather that covers the pigeon around the chest to protect it on the off chance a raptor grabs it when coming into the net. The harness is also attached to a pull chord.

Rick is putting the harness on one of the pigeons. The wings and feet fit through the holes comfortably and all the pigeons have to be the same size, if they are too small they can get tangled in the harness, so their weight and size is closely watched. You pull the cord, and the pigeon is aloft in the air, it flaps its wings and then flutters to the ground. The pigeon yanker has to pull, get the pigeon to flap the wings and then prevent the bird from thunking onto the ground and breaking some bones, so it does take technique to do it so the pigeon has a natural looking flight and doesn't get injured. We use several pigeons throughout the day. If it's a busy day and lots of hawks are flying over, a pigeon can be yanked a lot and tire easily, especially in warm weather, so you must keep an eye on the pigeon so you don't exhaust it. Rotating the pigeons gives them a chance to relax.

Rick's primary job at the hawk blind is pulling the pigeon, or as I affectionately call him, The Master Yanker (this is the part that I got to learn this weekend, so I guess that makes me a Novice Yanker). When a hawk is spotted, Rick has the job of controlling the pigeon. You yank the pigeons in different ways for different birds. For accipiters or for larger hawks that are far away, you yank hard and get the pigeon high in the air. For larger hawks that are close, you just kind of wiggle the cord and get the pigeon to flutter slightly, too much flapping can freak out a red-tailed hawk or bald eagle on close approach--seriously, it will. I have to say, this wears out your arms pretty quick. You pull hard and far from the blind, and sometimes you punch people sitting next to you, or knock your knuckles on the boards inside the blind, not to mention how the cord rubs the skin on your hand raw.

That's Rick in the blind in the above photo. See the hole in the lower left corner? That's where the pigeon chord comes into the blind. Another important job that the Master Yanker has is to pull the pigeon out of harm's way. Some raptors dodge the nets or are so big they can still reach the the pigeon though the nets, so you have to pull the pigeon out of the way at the last second, so it doesn't get killed. Frank has only lost 3 pigeons to raptors in the 38 years he has been doing this. As if all that isn't pressure enough, Rick has to burst through that little door at lightening quick speed when a raptor gets in the nets before it works itself out and flies away. It's a high pressure job, but man is it fun. I only did it for about 45 minutes and about 8 hawks flew in, two bounced out of the nets, but still I got six, man am I sore!

We watch for hawks coming in. It's so much fun to watch a speck in the distance, identify what it is and then watch that speck come in to the nets. The red-tailed hawks are one of the coolest. You can see them from miles away, circling in a thermal and if you can figure out when its looking in the banding station's direction, you pull the pigeon. When the red-tail sees it, the bird will flap to get out of the thermal and then set on target for the pigeon--it's incredible once it has set, the red-tail won't usually flap, but just hold the wings steady and come in for a dive. There's a red-tail in the above photo. It's hard to see, I'll try and zoom it:

It's interesting to watch some raptors come in low, using the vegetation behind them to hide their shape as they approach their prey. At the last second before the red-tail hits the nets, it will swing its feet forward, baring the talons--it's like watching an airplane drop its landing gear, and sometimes you can even hear the woosh of their wings--if you're thinking that sounds really awesome, it is.

My friend Reier took this photo from the blind. When Rick had to take a break, I asked Frank if it would be okay if I took a go at pulling the pigeon. He seemed hesitant but gave the go ahead. It took some practice to get the pigeon yanking down (and I'm still no Rick) but Frank then asked, "Sharon can you book it? You have to be fast when the hawks hit the net and grab them before they get loose." I said I could do it. I took off each time and on the last time, my shoe got caught in the nets and I fell over, but still grabbed the hawk before it flew off. That's me, as if I just slid into home base, holding my hand it the air, "I'm okay!" I shouted. I got the hawk, and provided comic relief--that's what I call a job well done. I have a beauty of a bruise today and have made the extra effort to wear cropped pants to show it off. "Ew, Sharon, how did you get that nasty bruise?" and I will proudly exclaim, "Hawk banding." I love my bruises and scars.

After the hawks are in the net, you have to untangle them quickly--and I have to say that it's much easier to get raptors out than songbirds (you just have to watch out for the feet). That's Reier above getting a hawk out of the net with Rick. From thew, the hawk is processed, it's measured, banded, aged, and in some cases we try to determine sex. My buddy Amber is learning the measuring and banding end of things (and I just realized that I have tons of bird photos, but none of Amber in action), but I have to say I am a pigeon yanking junky--it's sooooo fun--and GREAT exercise. I'm okay with how my body looks, oh sure I would like to be a but more buff or a few of my parts could be a little smaller (it would make clothes shopping for tv, ten times easier) but it's hard to find exercise that's not redundant and boring. Today, after doing the pigeon yanking yesterday--all the right parts of me are sore--my arms from yanking, my thighs from squatting and lunging to get hawks out of the net, my torso (I'm not sure why) but if a gym could come up with some sort of virtual hawk banding station where every ten minutes I do some sprinting to get hawks out, and pulling to get the pigeon going, I would SO sign up! You could have screens to show hawks flying in, ah, it would be so cool.

For some birds, we take photos before they are released. Seriously, little male sharp-shinned hawk, you thought trying to catch one of those pigeons who are bigger than you was a good idea?

"Yeah, and I still say I could take one!"

And then the hawk is released and we start the process over again.

I love this photo. It's Frank (in the green fleece) standing in front of the hawk blind with some friends getting photos of the hawks that were just banded. If you look at the blind behind them, Rick is scanning the skies for more incoming hawks. Rick, Master Yanker, ever ready to bring in a hawk.

More hawk banding photos and interesting bird things we learned coming in the next entry.