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