Simcoe County Banding Group

Migration Stations Closed for the Season!

birdguy69@gmail.com (Cortez) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:56:00 +0000

Well the Fall Migration has come to an end here in Central Ontario! We furled up the nets for the final time on Saturday after a couple of nights that were near "Perfect Conditions" with nothing caught at the Owl Nets and several none productive "Days " at the Hawk Station.
The Saw-whet Banding started rather slow, but ended up being about average with 131 New Owls, and 4 Foreign Retraps. We also had 1 retrap of one of our own Owls 3 seasons after the original Encounter! Although" our data" has been submitted by us, 2 of the Owls do not have any data from the Original Bander as of yet!
3 Long-eared Owls were also caught and Banded, and we will try aggressively for them again in the Spring!
During our final week of Owl Banding we had a Barred Owl come into the site, but we were unable to catch and Band it. This is our first encounter with this Species at our Station during 5 years of Operation.

Up on the Hill we ended the season with about 30 Hawks caught. The final Count will be determined over the next few days and Totals added to this post.

The next Season is almost upon us, and we are setting our sites toward the Winter Survey sites! Pre scouting has not picked up much as of yet, but when the weather changes so to will the Bird Counts at these locations.

There's a Surprise!

birdguy69@gmail.com (Cortez) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 14:21:00 +0000

While the weather has been anything but Stellar for Hawk Banding , it has allowed us to get a few nights in for Owl Banding . We are now over 100 new Saw-whets for the season and it is slowing down to 1 or 2 a night with nights of none aswell.

When I went Banding on Thursday night I found our Goshawk Trap had been setoff. After setting up the nets and Audiolure, I checked the Trap . As I approached I couldn't see anything sitting(using my Headlamp) in it and was about to think that it was triggered by the wind. Just as I got up beside it something moved and jumped around.......................what.............a Northern Shrike??????????????????

Shrikes may be small, but are aggressive! They are a "Songbird" and have a very pretty song. They look similar to a Northern Mockingbird in colour and size. They are also nicknamed the "Butcher Bird" due to the habit of impaling its Prey on the Thorns of Hawthorn Bushes and Barbed wire Fences. Yes you read correctly "its Prey" ! They are Carnivores that hunt for Mice, and Small Birds in the winter, and will add large Insects(Dragonflies,Grasshoppers) , small Frogs and Snakes in the Summer.

Well this was totally unexpected as the Trap is designed to be triggered by something about "Crow Sized " not "Blue Jay Size". Well it was a Bird species that I had not banded before, so that is what I did!

Now I had prior warnings about how "Nasty" they could be, so I took no chances and wore Leather Gloves. It didn't seem to aggressive at first, but eventually it was trying to bite and you could feel it through the Glove. After banding I put it in a Box to keep for the Night as it was Dark . The next morning it was released, but not before drawing some "Blood" first!

I did also catch a couple Saw-whets also!

Saw-whet Returns!

birdguy69@gmail.com (Cortez) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 04:45:00 +0000

Well ,the main reason that we Band Hawks and Owls is for the purpose of trying to figure out where they might go and how long they live for in the wild! They have found that some birds travel Great distances each Spring and Fall. They are even using Geolocating Devices and GPS Units on some Species to track them more closely.

They have found that the Larger Birds can live for a long time(ie Red-tailed Hawk 28 yrs) in the wild.

For me , this year has really been a good year for getting Info from Birds that I have either Captured and Banded previously, or Birds I have Banded and then retrapped years later.

On the 24th I was again the recepient of some worthy Info. I retrapped a Northern Saw-whet Owl that I had previously Banded. I caught this Owl on Oct 26 2006 about 500 meters from where it was originally Banded! When I initially caught and Banded this Owl it was a Hatch Year(born in the Current Year) and sexed as a Female. Well I now know that this Owl has survived 3 years out in the Wilds, but we do not exactly where it has been!

It is our first Owl that we have recaptured at our site in 5 years of Banding there, and are thrilled about this!

We have now caught 95 New Saw-whets(4 Foreign/ 1 Control), 28 New Hawks(1 Foreign/3 Control) and 3 New Long-eared Owls and 2 (Control) Eastern Screech Owls.

Fall Banding in Full Swing!........finally!

birdguy69@gmail.com (Cortez) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 23:13:00 +0000

Well we are finally experiencing an influx of Banding this past week! Saw-whet Owls arrived in earnest on the 13th with 22 New Owls banded and 1 Foreign Retrap. This previously Banded Owl was caught and banded in Pennsylvania Nov 11/07. The 22 new Owls set the new station 1 day (night) record high.

We have now banded 88 Saw-whets for the season and caught 4 previously Banded Owls.

On the Hawk side of the Banding we are over the 20 Bird mark! We achived this quicker than last year, although we haven't had great weather or terrific Flight Days.

Of the Hawks caught was 1 ASY Red-tailed Hawk that was previously Banded at another Station in Ontario in 2007. We are waiting for more specific information on this Hawk. It was my first Foreign Retrap of a Hawk and the second for our Station.

We also had a Red-tailed Hawk caught and relocated from the Cleveland Airport. I banded it as a HY in September 2007. This is my first Retrap of one of my Hawks at another location.

We are continueing to plug along, but once again the weather is keeping us indoors!

Wild Rains and Winds are Holding us Back!

birdguy69@gmail.com (Cortez) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 23:20:00 +0000

Well we have not managed alot of Banding Hours lately, especially for Owls due to Weather. Rain almost every night and Winds gusting up to 60 Km an hour.

We have only caught 3 NSWO's thus far , which is about 15-20 less than previous Seasons. 2 EASO's have been retrapped. 1 was originally banded in the Spring 09, and the other Nov 08 at our Innisfree Location.

We are at about 15 Hawks Banded this year, but the weather again is not helping. Cold Fronts continue to move through, but they are not bringing much but low Ceilings and Rain.

Of note on the Hawks we have recaught 3 Hawks previously Banded.

1) ASY COHA banded originally Sept. 26 2009 , was recaught Oct 01 2009 - 5 miles from the original Banding Site.

2) HY RTHA banded originally Sept 03 2009 , was recaught at the same location on Oct 5 2009.

3) ATY RTHA banded originally Dec 2005, was recaught Oct 6 2009 about 1/2 a mile from its orignal Banding Location.

Will possible try for Owls tonight if the wind dies down !

2009 Season............so far!

birdguy69@gmail.com (Cortez) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 00:57:00 +0000

Well aren't I just the lamest Blogger!

Here we are almost through 2009(3months) and I haven't come up with a post since early 2009.
We have had a soso season this Fall compared to last Fall. But using last Fall as a comparison may not be the best tool as it was miserable to say the least , especially the Diurnal Species(Hawks).

We have done better than last years Hawk Banding numbers to date, but weather is hampering our efforts. South easterly winds make it far to muggy and push the Birds away from our site. A large Cold front is continueing to move through today and tomorrow which should bring significant change for the better.
Our ratio of Hatch Year birds caught, compared to this time last year is also better, which shows that even though our summer wasn't the warmest or driest, it is better than last season.
We are pleased to announce that Bruce Wilson will be learning the craft of Raptor Banding this season. He is a very skilled Birder and no doubt will bring something to the Group(aside from Timbits;)).Also we have had experienced Raptor Bander Mike Blom leave our midst, but not totally leave the Group. He has set up an experimental Banding Station in his home province of Saskatchewan. He voes to come back, but with all the Raptors Species that he has potential to band there, we do not see him running back for atleast a Season. We wish Mike the Best with this venture and will see him in the future at some point!

Here at our Innisfree Raptor Station we have started for Saw-whet Owls ,but no success as of yet. It will hopefully be a good season, but time will tell. Last fall proved to be better than expected as their cycle should have been lowered. Perhaps our Geological location will not show to many flunctuations in the normal 4 year Cycle(2007 was the last spike). Time will tell also and it will require many years of Data to prove this either way.

Spring Banding was a complete surprise here at Innisfree. Trying for Saw-whet Owls in March only brought us 6! In complete surprise was the 28 Long-eared Owls that we caught. It was so not expected as we had only caught 2 in the previous 2 fall seasons.So you know what we will be trying for in the Spring again, just to ensure that it wasn't some kind of fluke event!

This spring also saw my oldest Son Todd band his very first Northern Saw-whet Owl. He was very happy to have the chance to do so and is looking forward to becoming a Licenced Bander.

None the less I will try to get some photos together and hopefully a few good stories as they unfold.

Cheer's Garth

Road Trapping/My first Snowy Experience!

birdguy69@gmail.com (Cortez) — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 21:45:00 +0000

I finally had a channce to get out and do some Road Trapping! Nigel and a I set out for the Holland Marsh Agricultural Fields on Tuesday the 3rd.
We were there only a few minutes when we saw our first Snowy of theday. It was a very heavily Barred SY female.We set up and waited a few minutes as she checked the Bait and head bobbed.Finally she took flight, but stopped short of the Net. After afew more minutes she flew back to her Perch and seemed disinterested. We took down the setup and drove along afew more minutes and found a Pure White ASY male. We again set up and almost imediately he came off his Perch , but something put him off and he landed off to the side. After a few minutes he took flight and went well out into the Onion Fields . It was then we noticed another Female further down the same road. She could have been the reason he gave up. We decided to change our setup a little and right away she came in and hit the Trap but did not get caught.She made a second pass, but decided something was up and proceeded to go back to her Perch.
Three Owls in 30 minutes,but unforunately nothing caught.
We drove west of the Hwy 400 and immediately found another female on the ground. We set up again, and came in straight away, but turned back when a Kestrel flew in and Hovered over the Trap. The Kestrel was already Banded an amazing 3 years earlier inthe same location, and had been caught a week earlier by Nigel.He was not about to get caught again!
A fifth Owl was spotted over on the next concession and we drove around and again did our modified setup. She looked and bobbed her head for several minutes, then finally came off her Perch and wasted no time coming in and getting caught. Nigel allowed me to go and retrieve her and take her out of the Trap. I then proceeded to Band her,and we weighed and measured her, before taking a couple of pics with the Cell Phone Camera. I released her and after a high five on my first Snowy we packed up and looked for more. We saw our first Owl again, but did not try again and called it a day.

Still Plugging Away

birdguy69@gmail.com (Cortez) — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 12:56:00 +0000

WE continue to plug away at the Owl and Hawk Banding at Innisfree Raptor Station. Weather has been a big factor with High Winds and Rain making it impossible to get out and do anything. We have had our first bit of Snow, thankfully it hasn't decided to stay yet! The weather is shaping up to be an almost Mirror Image of last year, and if that is the case we will only get another couple of weeks in.

Owls are still being caught but at a lesser or maybe a more managable rate. We are sitting at just under 200 Saw-whets and Banded our first Long-eared Owl last Saturday. Photos of this Bird will be posted as soon as I recieve them!

Some of the Stations furter North have closed for the Season, but we will continue on.

Hawks have been disappointing this Season , especially in comparison to last Season! We have just now managed to break the 20 Bird barrier with the help of Nigels 5 caught yesterday. Hawk numbers are down significantly in "Count Numbers" at most of the other Hawkwatch sites also, so we do not feel as bad . The first Northern Goshawk (in 2 years)was Banded yesterday along with 4 Juvie Red-tails. Unfortunately no Photos are available for those.

We'll try to keep this updated as time permits!

Owls good, Hawks poor!

birdguy69@gmail.com (Cortez) — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 03:29:00 +0000

Saw-whets continue to move through our location in good numbers. On Saturday a new Station High and personal Best for Masterbander Nigel Shaw saw 21 Owls Banded. That beat our previous Station high of 20 last season by me and beat Nigels previous best one night of 19. On the Sunday I banded another 18 Owls. We have had a better than last year Season sofar, as other Stations report fewer Birds. Our total is around 160 Owls which is atleast 50 Owls more than this time last Season!

Hawks continue to move through at a slower than normal pace and we are at less than 20 Hawks sofar this Fall. This is atleast 20 Hawks less than last Season at this time! Most of our Hawks have been Red-tails and surprisingly they are mostly Adults that are being caught. This seems to Help our theory that Hawks did not have a great Breeding Season and we suspect it is primarily due to the Wet and Cooler Summer.

Saw-whets moving well!

birdguy69@gmail.com (Cortez) — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 22:41:00 +0000

We started Banding for Saw-whets on September 26th this year. It started off rather slowly with 1 or 2 Owls a night until the 29th we caught 6 Saw-whets and 1 Screech Owl. This included a Foreign Retrap that was Banded somewhere else in Ontario on October 10th 2007. On Sept 30th 1 Saw-whet was netted .
On Friday and Saturday Nights I was doing a Banding Demonstration at the WYE Marsh in Midland Ontario. It is 85 km's north of our Banding Station. It was poor Owl wise with only 1 Bird on the last night, and this was only after the Guests had departed .
Subsequently my Banding Partner was at the Station and netted a few on Friday and 20 on Saturday, which included 2 Foreign Retraps. One was banded elsewhere in Ontario and the Other from Assateague Island ,Worcester CO. Maryland. It was banded Oct. 30 2007 by David Brinker , who spearheads Project Owlnet that many of us particpate in!
On Sunday I caught 14 more unbanded Saw-whets and Monday another 18 , which one is a Foreign Retrap of unknown Origin as of yet. Last night we caugt 8 more and our Total is 75 on the Season , which is 30 Birds higher than this time last year!
This is supposed to be a poor year campared to last year, as most other Stations are reporting, but we are actually seeing it busier! GO FIGURE!

We will carry on as we can(tonight is raining) and hopefully will have some Pics to post.

Back Again!!!!!

birdguy69@gmail.com (Cortez) — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 20:52:00 +0000

Well it has been a while since I have posted anything. I was without a computor most of the Summer and I guess I am not really cut out to be a Big Time Blogger!

Anyhow, we are Banding again this Fall although the Migration of all Birds of Prey appear smaller this year. Weather may have played havoc on the Nesting and food supply of many of the Raptors. Northern Saw-whet Owls are moving through but nowhere near last years numbers, which is right in line with the 4-5 year Trend of thier Populations. They seem to crash heavily after a great year. This year we are catching more Foreign Birds than Hatch Year Birds (3 Foreign to 2 Hatch Year) out of 30 Saw-whets to date.

I banded my first ever Peregrine Falcon on the 23rd of September. We have now caught a Peregrine 3 of 4 years since we opened the Banding Station. Other birds banded to date are 4Red-tailed Hawks,2 Merlins , 2 Sharp-shinned Hawks and 1 Coopers Hawk.

We had our largest count Day on Septmber 16th with a total of 1671 Birds of Prey counted.In this total were 1568 Broad-winged Hawks. It a day I will soon not forget!

Our Osprey Platform was a Huge success ,and the pair was able to raise 3 chicks and have them Fledge! We banded the young Osprey on July 09. I was the charged with the Task of climbing the pole and lowering the Chicks one at a time to be Banded. One of the Adults keep a close Eye on me and made many Swooping Dives about 10 feet above my Head.

Untill next time !

Osprey Platform Construction

birdguy69@gmail.com (Cortez) — Mon, 05 May 2008 23:51:00 +0000

Here is a pictorial of the Osprey Platform that we under took this past Winter!
The Photos may be a little confusing to follow, as I haven't mastered the art of Labelling!
The Pole was delivered in January after a Huge thaw, that saw most of the Snow all but disappear. It snowed the night before delivery of Materials,and the Truck struggled to negotiate the Site.
Construction was completed in February and the Pole and Platform were set in March, after yet more snow.We were glad to have the Equipment with Tracks come for this.
I spent a few days hauling the Materials from the old Nest Site and constructed the Base of the Nest, using wire to secure it to the Meshing.
The Osprey arrived on April 7th and I am glad to say that they now appear to be settled into the Incubation Stage! We are extremely happy with the outcome and hope it will be used for years to come!

We're Back!!

birdguy69@gmail.com (Cortez) — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 01:27:00 +0000

Well sorry for the lapse in entries! Winter came with a Vengence and didn't want to quit!

Winter Road trapping was dismal due to the large amounts of Snow we recieved.I am not complaining about the Snow as most of it was "Good Snow". People think I am nuts because I refer to some Snow like that. For us here in the Great Lakes Region the water Levels have continually gone down over the past number of years. With the Good Snow from the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Coast we will see the Levels rise somewhat this Summer.

During the Couse of the Winter we were to Build and Erect an Osprey Platform. We managed to get it done admidst all of the Weather Delays. I am glad to say that it is already in Use and Nest Construction and Mating are underway!

We have done some Spring Hawk Banding , but the weather went straight from Winter to Summer it seems and the migration seems to reflex this somewhat. None the less we have Banded 11 New Hawks this Spring . We will continue for another week or 2 and than move over to Dickey Birds!

Closed for the Season!

birdguy69@gmail.com (Cortez) — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 05:48:00 +0000

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!

birdguy69@gmail.com (Cortez) — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 16:34:00 +0000

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!

birdguy69@gmail.com (Cortez) — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 22:03:00 +0000

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!

birdguy69@gmail.com (Cortez) — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 05:22:00 +0000

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!

birdguy69@gmail.com (Cortez) — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 17:58:00 +0000

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!

birdguy69@gmail.com (Cortez) — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 16:30:00 +0000

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!!!!!!!!!!!!

birdguy69@gmail.com (Cortez) — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 20:50:00 +0000

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!!!

birdguy69@gmail.com (Cortez) — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 13:21:00 +0000

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)

birdguy69@gmail.com (Cortez) — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 05:31:00 +0000

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!

birdguy69@gmail.com (Cortez) — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 04:28:00 +0000

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!

birdguy69@gmail.com (Cortez) — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 17:55:00 +0000

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!

birdguy69@gmail.com (Cortez) — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 17:57:00 +0000

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!