This past week has been extremely busy! With decent weather conditions each day, we have seen increasing numbers of raptors moving through the straits area. Not only did we surpass the record for Cooper’s Hawks that have been banded for MSRW and band the first Northern Goshawk for MSRW since 2020, but we also banded and put a GPS transmitter on another dark morph Red-tailed Hawk. We also managed to band our 50th Red-tailed Hawk of the season after just 12 days of field work on April 15th. It’s been a great season so far, and we are looking forward to what’s to come. Stay tuned!
Pictured above: Cooper’s Hawk, Northern Goshawk, dark morph Red-tailed Hawk
The season totals thus far are as follows:
Red-tailed Hawks: 52
Red-shouldered Hawks: 2
Northern Harriers: 2
Cooper’s Hawks: 5
Sharp-shinned Hawks: 11
American Kestrels: 1
Northern Goshawks: 1
Total: 74
