Hello readers and welcome to the spring raptor migration banding blog! We’ve been trapping for about a month now, so let’s recap what the last month has held.
But first, an introduction: My name is Josiah Gritter and I am spending this spring season as the assistant bander to the MSRW legend, Nick Alioto. I recently graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point with my bachelors in Wildlife Ecology and Management. I am currently planning on working different seasonal technician positions while I look for a graduate program to attend. I am very excited to be working with MSRW and gaining raptor handling experience this spring!
Week 1: This spring has provided us with unprecedented weather, and the first week (or rather, what was supposed to be the first week), was no exception. The ice storm that affected a large portion of Northern MI delayed us in getting the site ready for trapping. On April 5th the ice finally melted enough and we spent the day setting up the blind and getting our nets positioned just right.
Week 2: Finally, we start! April 6th was our first day in the blind and it did not disappoint. We caught 3 birds, a Sharp-shinned Hawk (SSHA), a Northern Harrier (NOHA), and a Red-shouldered Hawk (RSHA). We were closed again the next day due to high winds but the next couple days brought us a few new species for the season, American Kestrel (AMKE), Red-tailed Hawk (RTHA), and Coopers Hawk (COHA). April 11th was an exciting day in the blind – we banded the 1000th raptor for this station and it was a beautiful adult RTHA!!
We were also joined this weekend by a collaborator from Wisconsin. Danny is a graduate student from the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay who is studying SSHA migration. He joined us to deploy some GPS/GSM transmitters on female SSHAs, allowing him to track their annual movements between wintering and breeding grounds. We were lucky enough to be able to deploy 4 transmitters while he was here.
Week 3: High winds caused us to close again on the 14th and 15th but we were open the rest of the week. The 18th saw our busiest day of the season with 9 birds banded (5 RTHAs, 3 SSHAs, and 1 NOHA). The 19th was another exciting day – we deployed the seasons first RTHA GPS/GSM transmitter!! These are being deployed as a part of Nick’s doctoral work at Michigan State University where he is focusing on the movement ecology of RTHAs in the Straits region.
Week 4: The start of this week brought another new species, a Merlin (MERL)! It was fun to find this bird with a full crop from a recent snack. The rest of the week was fairly productive with between 3-7 daily captures. We also deployed the second RTHA transmitter this week! Danny from UW-Green Bay joined us again this weekend to deploy some more transmitters on SSHAs and was able to get 2 more out!
Season numbers so far:
Total - 64 RTHA - 29 SSHA - 24 NOHA - 4 RSHA - 2 AMKE - 2 MERL - 1 COHA - 2Thanks for reading this season update and stay tuned for weekly updates to come!
