Still Kicking!

Yes I am still Alive and Kicking! Haven't had permanent Internet for several months and I will lean on that as my excuse for not posting!

Red-tailed Hawk that was Cloured Banded(unusual).

2010 has been a successful Season ! The Satelite Station at Scanlon Creek was re-employed for the Fall and although the Terrain is somewhat differant than our Innisfree Station the numbers for Fall Raptors are nearly identical.

Hatch Year Northern Goshawk.

Hatch Year Northern Harrier.

Hatch Year Sharp-shinned Hawk.

To date we are about 70 Saw-whets each and close to 30 Hawks each. The weather plagues us both differantly for the most part, and when one is not having any Success the other is. We are hoping for 200 Saw-whets and 100 Hawks in total and we have a few more weeks to try and achieve this.

Osprey Young in Nest.

The Osprey were again successful this year and Fledged 3 Young. All were healthy and about 2-3 weeks from fledging. We tried unsuccessfully to capture the Adults! We will try again next season and hopefully can Colour Band them and determine if it is the same Pair returning each year.

Bring on 2010!

Well it was not a very productive winter as far as Captures, but we did get a few. Snowy Owls were not as abundant as last year and only 1 was caught although we had a few hit the Traps. A few Red-tailed Hawks and a couple American Kestrels were also caught. The Best one of the winter no doubt was a Northern Hawk Owl that was caught and banded in the Collingwood area.

Spring has arrived and the Nets have been set up. We are also running a Satelite Station 8 miles to the south. It is a Scanlon Creek and is being funded by the Lake Simcoe Conservation Authority on a trial Basis. So far it has produced 2 Northern Harriers and 1 Red-tailed Hawk at the Hawk Station, and 2 Long-eared Owls and 3 Northern Saw-whets at the Owl Station.
This will also be site of a Passerine Banding Station. If the numbers are good and funding approved it could be a very good Tool for teaching others .

At our Innisfree Station we have caught 3 Red-tailed Hawks , 1 Long-eared Owl and 3 Northern Saw-whets.
Screech Owls are noticably absent at both Stations and hot weather has not produced a very good Flight of Raptors.

New Kestrel Boxes are being put up this Spring in an effort to try help the Species. 5 new boxes are up with 5 more to go! We also have material to build another 10.

AS a Group we attended the AGM for the Ontario Bird Banders Association in Port Rowan/Long Point. It was a nice time and Names were put to some Faces, new friends were made and Ideas shared. Nigel reaquaintted himself with many he hadn't seen in years as this was where he Trained .

A banding demo was held on the SundayTraps were set for Horned Larks and Snow Buntings with the Highlight being a Lapland Longspur being caught and banded(Tick for Nigel).