Well, the weather sure didn’t cooperate very much since Monday. Nick and I were only able to band four days out of the past six, but we didn’t leave empty handed by any means. We managed to band 30 raptors in those four days! Among those was a Red-tailed Hawk who received our last GPS transmitter for the 2023 field season. A big push of Sharp-shinned Hawks (SSHA) came through, and we also saw (and banded) several Northern Harriers. In fact, this morning, there were so many SSHA’s around that we caught one before we had even finished setting up the blind. After that, it was SSHA after SSHA! The day ended with a total of 9 SSHA, our biggest day of these small accipiters yet. This next week is looking promising, so stay tuned.
Pictured above is the Red-tailed Hawk that was fitted with the last GPS transmitter. We look forward to seeing where it goes this summer!
This afternoon we banded the first male American Kestrel of the season, pictured above.
The season totals are as follows:
Red-tailed Hawks: 70
Red-shouldered Hawks: 2
Northern Harriers: 9
Cooper’s Hawks: 6
Sharp-shinned Hawks: 51
American Kestrels: 2
Northern Goshawks: 2
Merlins: 3
Total: 145
