Closed for the Season!

Well it has been a while since my last post. Work has a bad habit of getting in the way of everything. We closed the station down 2 weeks ago account of impending Bad Weather. We have had almost 2 feet of snow since and are glad we didn't leave it one more day.A few more Hawks were caught prior to Closing down and we ended on a very High Note.

The Goshawk Traps were ran for another week with a couple of Birds being Caught.

We are working on a new Osprey Platform in partnership with Natural Resources and Go Transit. The local Rail Line is being put back in Service with Passenger(Commutor) Trains. They have taken all the old Telegraph Poles down except 1 account it has been used for the past couple of years for a Nest Structure by aair of Osprey. It is right near a Level Crossing and attracts alot of attention from the General Public.Because of the Public getting very near the Nesting Birds, the coming of Commutor Train Service and the fact that the Pole is not sturdy enough to withstand many more years and the Nest Falls down every winter it will be relocated.

It took some time to find a Local Land Owner who would accept having a Nest Pole on their property account the High volume of People wanting to claim the Osprey as their own and Trespassing was high on the list of Concerns. With the Landowners that did volunteer their Properties for a possible Nest Site, we looked at what would be the most Central to their Hunting Grounds and previous Nest Sites , that would help the Osprey to accept a New Location.The weather has slowed us down on this, as we can not get our Materials to the sitedue to 3-4 foot Snowdrifts.

Today (friday) I found a Turkey Vulture eating a Road Killed Racoon on my way to work.It was less than a mile from my House and is a little Late in the season for them.

Well I will try to get all of our Stats for the season and post them when I have a chance.I hope everyone has a Safe and Healthy Christmas Season. Cheer's Garth

Still Going Strong!

Although we had some snow this past week, we are still catching Hawks and Owls! 11 more owls have been caught since last Saturday(3rd) and we caught 4 Red-tails on this Saturday(10th).

Of the Owls caught the majority (10 of 11) have been Hatch Year Birds ,which seems to indicate that the Migration is still going strong although the largest Flights have probably past!

We had another Foreign Retrap , which is No. 2 this Season. It was banded on Oct 15th in Lakefield Ontario. As a Crow flies that is about 100 kms(60miles) to the East in 25 days. That is an average of 4kms a night, which is not much. Since we have Lake Simcoe between us, it now makes us wonder if it went North to come around or South to come back North again. We do not think it flew directly across the Bay which is about 6 kms, but there is still that posibility.(I'll post a pic soon)

Of the Hawks we caught on Saturday, there were 2 Adults and 2 Juvies. The Adults normally have a Brown Eye and the Juvies a Yellow Eye, so it is confusing that we caught this "Adult" RTHA with yellow Eyes

The first photo is the Confusing one, the 2nd is a typical Adult(dark eyes) and typical Juvie, the 3rd is the Typical Adult.

100 Swets and counting!

On Friday night I banded my 100 Saw-whet of the season.It was the 6th of 8 Owls caught that night. This is of course an all time High for me as I have only banding a couple of years!.

Collectively between 3 Banders in 2 locations we have 215 Saw-whets,3 Screech,1 Barred and as of Saturday a Long-eared Owl.When I recieve photos I will add them to this!

We will be lucky to get another week or so of Owls and the Raptor Station will be closing down also. We will in the winter months start Road Trapping for Snowy Owls and other winter Raptors around Simcoe County.

This is not a fluke that we are having a Banner Year for Owls as almost all Stations in North America are having incredible Nights. Thousands of Saw-whet Owls have been banded this Fall and many have been retrapped as they Move south. I will give a pretty good picture of how the Owls move. They have had an exceptional Breeding Season and we now get a chance to scratch the Surface of the Magnitude of their Migration!

All Banders that participate in the Owl Migration Monitoring deserve a Big Round of Applause for all thier efforts. Many of us are not paid to do this and put in incredible amounts of Time to make it all work. We are normal working Stiffs with Families,Men, Woman,Young and Old of many backgrounds and Beliefs. We all work together as Individuals or small Groups for one common Goal. It is an experience all should have atleast once in their Lives. It is important for Children especially as they wil be the ones that will carry on after us.

Great Day & Night!

Today was a Great Day! It started off wet and dreary, but once the first Front pushed through the Hawks came in Droves.The first great sight was our 2nd Golden Eagle of the season, which is now a Season High.
Next came the Red-tails! I don't have the offical numbers ,but there were in excess of 130 observed.This is a Daytime High for the Species.
And we manged to Band 10 RTHA's which is also a 1 Day Station High.
The Red-tails were everywhere, like the Broadwings a month earlier.It was nothing like I had ever seen before,WOW!

This evening we decided to cap off a Great Banding Day with a Good Banding Night! A total of 13
Northern Saw-whets were Banded.This brings the Station total to 88 on site and 66 off site!
Our Hawk totals are 68 on site.

No photos were taken today,but many memorable sights are etched in my mind!

A Roughed Week!

Well it has been over a week since my last post. Things slowed way down due to the unseasonably warm Temps. The southerly winds brought very Strong Gusts and lots of Rain.When it wasn't raining it was Hot and Humid with Fog.That makes it very difficult to See anything yet alone Band them.

WE did however have a couple days where the weather co-operated a little. It brought us our first Rough-legged Hawk of the Season which was also our first Ever Roughie ever Banded at our Station. It was a Light phased Morph of this Species.Unfortunately the Camera was not available for Photos.

Today however I was lucky enough to Catch our 2nd Ever Roughie and had the Camera on hand! It is a Dark Phase of the Species which is not as common as the Light phased. They recieved their name because of the fact that the Feathers cover the entire Leg to the Foot. Other Hawks do not have a Feathered Tarsus(leg). They are very long winged with a longer Tail than other Buteos. Their Feet or Talons are very small aswell compare to the other Hawks in the Class of Buteo .

The Owl Banding is still progressing,but at a slower pace.We are a modest 78 Northern Saw-whets at the Station with an additional 60+ banded at other locations under the Same Permit!

A little Brown Bat came by for a Visit at the Banding Station on last Thursday!

Big Owl Night!

Last night I had my biggest Owl Night ever! It was pretty much a constant from 8pm t 2 am. I finished the night with 20 Northern Saw-whets, with as many as 5 in a Netcheck. I did not have time for many Photos as I like to process them a quickly as possible in order to put as little Stress on them as possible. It also keeps my net checks somewhat regular at 1/2 hr intervals(give or take)

There is something that I have noted during my past couple of Owling nights and that is when there is cloud cover I don't catch many if any Owls. As soon as stars come back out,the Owls seem to find the Nets. It is nothing Scientific yet,but I will continue to monitor this in the Future to see if there is any Basis to it.

The one photo is from last night (all I had time for)when I had 5 NSWO's to process. They are in Bags which are used to carry the Owls from the Nets to the Station for processing. The bags are 100% Cotton and very Breathable.They not only make it easy to carry them,but they remain in the Bags for weighing aswell!The Owls are then fitted with a Leg Band of a size specified by the Bird Banding Office(4 short). They then have their Wing measured from the Wrist to the Tips of the Primary Feathers.This is know as Wing Cord! From the Weight and Wing Cord we can determine their Sex to a degree(nothing is Fool Proof). By examining their Feather Molts we can determine Age. I will try to get Photos under UV Lights to show this part of it. They are then taken outside and Released! For the most part it takes about 7 minutes to process 1 Owl.

Piece of Tails!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here are the Pics that I referred to in my last post.Note the differance in Tail Patterns on the 4 Juvies! It is remarkable how the plummages can vary as young birds.

Big Day! Great Week!!!

Well it started slow,but ended up an excellant Day. With a light North wind for most of the day the Birds kept on coming.Turkey Vultures and Red-tailed Hawks were the big show, but not the only ones. A total of 257 Raptors were seen and 5 Red-tails were Banded(Pics to be posted soon).Along with the Raptors were 22 Common Loons and 6 Sandhill Cranes.

Last night I banded another 5 Saw-whets which puts me at 51 for the year.This is double last years numbers and a Station High.

Highlight of the Week goes to a sub-Adult Golden Eagle which gave us good looks for 20 minutes,before disappearing out of sight!This is our 2nd ever Golden seen at the Station , the Bald Eagles should start to be seen soon also.

Peregrine Day!(aka Thanksgiving Day)

Well as I have said in the past" The weather is not very codusive for Hawk Migration and Banding". Until now!

A week Cold front pushed through on the weekend which brought a decent flight of Birds on Thanksgiving Day(07/10/08). My Banding partner was at the station and had 3 Peregrine Falcons all of the Tundrius Race came by. Attempts were made to lure them all in ,but only the 2nd reacted and was subsequently Banded. It was a Female HY(Hatch Year) Tundrius Race. This is only the 2nd Peregrine that we have Banded at our Station, but we have only been up and running for 3 Seasons. So I guess we are doing fairly well considering! This did however better our 1 Day total which was 2 last year, and we have now seen 4 on the year which is also a High for us!

Lets not forget the Red-tail and Sharp-shinned that were also banded on Thanksgiving Day.

The weather looks like it is starting to turn for the Better( Colder, and Colder) and will get the Migration back underway. I did manage to Band 6 Saw-whet Owls tonight (07/10/09)

Liam's first Saw-whet!

Tonight I was out Banding again ,although it feels more like a July Night!. I was able to set up Early and play a Screech Call for 1/2 an hour . I retrapped a EASO that was 1 of 2 I caught on Wednesday. These are my first Screech Owls I have ever Banded. To date I have banded 31 Northern Saw-whets and we haven't really had good Owl weather here in Central Ontario.We have surpassed last years numbers and have been going for 2 weeks .Normally we don't start until October 1st week sometime!

Good news is that my youngest Son finally had a chance to release a Saw-whet Owl. Last year everytime He came along we were Skunked .He had been along twice this season with the Same results until tonight!

The Hawk migration and Banding has been extremely slow with only 2 Hawks caught in a week with about 75 Hawks seen in the same week!We are sure the weather will return to more seasonable conditions soon! Hopefully!!!!!!

Saw-whets have Arrived!

On thursday night I tried for Owls after work.I thought I would be skunked until the last Net Check at midnight! There they were! 2 little Blobs hanging in the Botom Shelf. They were glad to see me aswell by the numerous times they shook Hands with me. So I did 2 more Net Checks after, but none where to be found in the Nets,only calling from the Sumacs.
Last night I went out again after work and together with my 12 yr old Son we managed another 8 NSWO's. We could of caught more I am sure if we stayed, but he fell asleep after midnight and I was going on little sleep and having to be up for Hawk Banding in the morning!
When I load my new Camera Disc on the Computor I wil post som photos!

Life on Hold!

Well we have now surpassed our yearly Hawk Count Numbers in respect to Migrating Raptors. We are naw over 1200 Raptors seen and still counting with only 125 hours in. Last year we had 1158 with 220 hours of Data. We have only Banded 35 Hawks so far and no Owls as of yet. Either we don't have the Weather our we don't have the Time as we are also a couple of Working Stiffs with young Families.
I can be a fine Line to walk sometimes when it comes to Raptor Banding and Family, and we try our Best to have Both! We try to include our Families in our endeavors whenever possible, but not everyone wants to be in a Blind when the Hawks are hardly Moving or sitting in a Car at the Side of the Road in the middle of the Night at 0 degrees. We do know that somewhere within there is still some sort of Passion for our Spouses, but it just doesn't seem to rear its Head much during Banding Season!!!!

So for our Families we Say:

Thanks for sticking with us ,and we will once again comeback to some sort of Reality in the Near Future!

Mid Sept Heatwave

Well we are having a mini Heatwave this week and it doesn't help very much. Numbers today compared to last Wednesday 446-19. We have probably had our best Migration Day, but not our best Banding Day. Our biggest Banding day this year was 5 Birds(3Merlins,2 Sharp-shins) on the 11th. Last Season we had an 8 Bird Day!We are still getting a few Hawks Banded and have a Season total of 28 as of today. Last Season was a total of 65 Hawks and 24 Owls.

We will be starting Owl Banding very soon and we hope to surpass last years total.

What a Day!!!

Although the Banding totals don't reflect it , it was a Record Breaking Day at Innisfree Raptor Station. We had great weather as the 3rd of 3 Cold Fronts pushed through this morning, leaving in its wake a Trail of Hawks . Broad-winged Hawks started going by about 11am an were in Kettles of 20 to 100+ Birds. We have never seen these size of Kettles at our station and it was an amazing sight to see as Kettle after Kettle went over us. Obviously this was by far the largest movement of Broad-wings thus far this season and was reflected at other Stations on the Shores of Lake Ontario and Lake Erie.
Well over 400 Hawks were seen today, which is a Record. Hopefully as we record more years we will see a larger picture of Hawk Migrations in Simcoe County.

Slooooooow Week!

Well it has been a very slow week with few Hawks Banded and not a whole lot have been seen. The primarily Southerly winds are not very productive days for us and I am sure many of the other larger stations have seen this as well. The extremely Hot and Humid days are more condusive to July than September and make it very uncomfortable in the Blind!
The long Range Forecast is calling for more Seasonal Temps in the low to mid 20's and more west-Northwest winds. This will get things rolling we hope.

Still Banding!

Well it has been a few days since the last post and will probably make a weekly posting.The Banding has been slow,but as stated before it is still early in the Season. WE now have all of our Nets in place.We have caught an additional 5 Hawks in the past five days( 2 COHA,1AMKE,1MERL,1RTHA).
We are using a Large Triangle with the main Lure and a Smaller Triangle to the side with a Smaller Lure. The Large Lure is the Primary Bait to get the Hawks attention. If it is a Large Hawk(ieRTHA,COHA) we keep them focused on the Primary Lure. If it is a smaller Hawk(ie AMKE,SSHA) we will switch to the smaller Lure. I can be quite Tedious some days as you watch the Skies for hours and not have any Hawks within distance(naked Eye). Then we just count the Raptors for Hawkcount.org . With the Changing of the Seasons we will be getting more productive days as the Number of Hawks increases each and every day................Stay Tuned

Consolation Prize?

Today was another Hohum day with Bad Winds, and hardly any Raptor movements. Consolation was a HY COHA that made several attempts at the Lure before finally getting caught .
An oddity (I Thought) was a fly by of a Common Nighthawk at 10 am. They are not generally seen in the Daytime. Their name is derived from the fact that they "Hawk" Insects at Night and are not a Hawk at all.

Where's the Hawks?

Well , it was nothing short of a Dead Day at the Station today. Early morning Fog rolled out about 9-9:30 and the skies were Blue.Winds were unfavourable out of the ESE.Only Raptors were a couple of distant Red-tails and 15 Turkey Vultures. The Monarchs were steadily moving through with another couple hundred over 3 hours. Flocks of CAGO,RWBB and BLJA's were abundant. Other notables wer Ruby-throated Hummingbirds(3) and a SHRIKE Species. Given the time of year I would say a migrating Loggerhead.I did not have my Scope with me to try see coloured Leg Bands!Hopefully tomorrow will be a little Better as my 2 Boys really get a kick out of Catching and Releasing the Hawks.

Not what I expected!

This morning I was at the Banding Station at 7:30 waiting for the Hawks to pour over. They must have got their feathers caught in Mollasses! No they didnt pour over as expected ,even with great conditions, but I managed 37 Raptors of 9 Species. It is very early in the season, and better days are ahead. I did Band 2 Hawks today, 1 HY RTHA and 1 HY BWHA(photo included).The Broad-wing was un expected, as it appeared to be a Coopers from afar.

Fall 2007 Banding Kickoff

Today , I got the Banding Station going. After the heavy rains of lastnight, and few remaining showers this morning, Myself and my oldest son Banded 2 HY RTHA's. We also had a 3rd Red-tail fly by and a 2nd Year Cooper's Hawk miss getting caught. From 11 am to 2 pm 30 Raptors were observed, and many differant Passerines and Monarch's flew past.

More favourable Winds and weather are forecasted for Tomorrow, so I will be at it Bright and Early!

Here's looking at you!

Simcoe County Banding Group is located in Innisfil,Ontario,Canada. We are a Raptor Banding Station that began in the Fall of 2005. We are located on Private Land and thus can't have tours or groups come out, but we do get out and Do Public Banding Demo's whenever possible. I hope that we can put together some good happenings of our Banding Seasons aswell as a Photo or 2.