8 Banded - Saturday, September 15, 2007

It was a typical windy day on the ridge Saturday. They saw lots of Red Tail Hawks and another Prairie Falcon, as well as catching a PRFA.

Saturday's team consisted of Mark Gleason, Dennis Ryan, Cindy Willis, Don McCall, and Mike Walker.

(Check yesterday's blog for NOHA photo)

Raptors banded:

5 SSHA
1 COHA
1 AMKE
1 HY male PRFA

This brings total to date up to 196.

HY male Prairie Falcon

All Time Record Tied! - Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Well this season just keeps getting better and better. The all time record at Entiat of 26 banded was set by the Ladies Tea and Trapping Society last year on Wednesdy, September 27. Today, Pat Little and Dalene Keith tied that record. And they pulled it off with just the 2 of them.

They report that the hawks came in fairly steady throughout the day. The weather was classic late summer; hot with very little wind.

The most interesting observation of the day, #5 on the obs sheet, was a Bobcat. Dalene saw it peering up over the rock cliff on the west side of the set. It was gone before they could get a photo of it.

Ray Cruz and his friend Carl banded 1 HY RTHA at a location they have set up about 1/2 mile up ridge from the main blind.

Raptors banded:

8 HY male SSHA
13 HY female SSHA
1 ASY female SSHA
3 ASY female COHA
1 HY male AMKE

22 SSHA in one day is a record. This puts us up over last year again with a total of 157. I will get the graph posted later.

Great job you two!


Photo of the day (they even had time to take photos!?!):

HY male AMKE

Windy Day- Wednesday, September 5th 2007

It was a humbling day for the Ladies Tea and Trapping Society with just three raptors banded. It started as a beautiful, crystal clear morning that held great promise, but where were the raptors?! The breezes of the morning turned to strong gusts by afternoon and for some reason, there were as many raptors flying North as there were flying South.

Sue, Dalene and Pat ended up banding three raptors. As if for consolation, there was a gorgeous sunset.


1 HY male SSHA
1 HY male COHA
1 AHY female AMKE


AHY fenale American Kestrel

First Adult Red Tail Hawk- Tuesday, September 4th 2007

Pat, Jeremy and Oliver were the lucky participants to band the first adult Red tail hawk of the season.
Total banded for the day was nine which brings us to 73 for a season total.
Weather was breezy but mostly clear.


Raptors banded:
1 HY female AMKE
1 HY male AMKE
3 U male AMKE
2 HY female COHA
1 ASYU RTHA
1 HYU RTHA

8 Banded - Monday, September 3, 2007

There were high clouds most of the day on the ridge and by 3 PM thicker clouds were moving in. 8 raptors were banded today, which brings our season total to 64.

Martin Muller captained the ship with help from Jeremy Krumlauf, Oliver May, and Becky Rosencranz. They again observed White-throated swifts, and also Crossbill's.

Raptors banded:

1 HY female SSHA
1 HY female COHA
3 HY female COHA
1 ASY female COHA
1 AHY male AMKE
1 U female AMKE

Photo of the day:

American Kestrel female

5 More - Sunday, September 2, 2007

This brings us to 56 total, season to date. Martin Muller, Michelle Johnson, and Becky Rosencranz were on the ridge today. They reported a Prairie falcon "fly-by" and a lot of ravens that hung out over the set playing in the breezes. They are fun to watch as they do their acrobatics but they don't do much for daily count.

Martin said that Michelle did her first solo net extraction of a Kestrel and she has the scars to prove it. With the 2 Kestrels today, we have now banded more in our first week than the season total of any other year. The most we have banded in the past in one season was 20 AMKE's.

Raptors banded:

1 AHY male SSHA
1 HY female COHA
1 HY U RTHA
1 HY female AMKE
1 HY male AMKE

Photo of the day:

HY female COHA

A key for the codes we use

Here is a key of the codes for raptors that we see at Entiat Ridge:

SSHA - Sharp-shinned Hawk
COHA - Cooper's Hawk
NOGO - Northern Goshawk
RTHA - Red-tailed Hawk
RLHA - Rough-legged Hawk
AMKE - American Kestrel
MERL - Merlin
PEFA - Peregrine Falcon
PRFA - Prairie Falcon
NOHA - Northern Harrier
GOEA - Golden Eagle
BAEA - Bald Eagle
TUVU - Turkey Vulture
OSPR - Osprey


Here is a key for the codes we use for the ages:

HY - hatch year
SY - second year
TY - third year
AHY - after hatch year
ASY - after second year
ATY - after third year
U - unidentified

7 banded - Saturday, September 1, 2007

The team on the ridge Saturday consisted of Mark Gleason, Cindy Willis, Dennis Ryan, Becky Rosencranz, and Michelle Johnson. They saw lots of larger raptors, Red tails and Turkey Vultures, but........ still no large falcon or Goshawk banded.

This brings us to a season total of 51 banded, which is 20 more than our best year, as of the same date.
Total by species to date: 20 SSHA, 10 COHA, 19 AMKE, 2 RTHA

Raptors banded:

1 HY female SSHA
2 HY female COHA
1 HY male COHA
1 AHY female COHA
1 HY/SY male AMKE

Photo of the day:

AHY female COHA

"Quiet day" - Friday, August 31, 2007

In the past 6 banded would be considered a pretty good day. But all things are relative, and this year 6 banded qualifies as "quiet". Jim Shiflet was on the ridge with Dennis Ryan and Cindy Willis.

We're still waiting for these first's of the season! - adult Red tail hawk, Northern Goshawk, and Prairie or Peregrine falcon

Raptors banded:

2 HY male SSHA
1 AHY male SSHA
1 HY male COHA
1 U male AMKE
1 HY U RTHA

Photo of the day:

Juvenile Red Tail Hawk

14 Banded - August 30, 2007

That's right, a total of 14 on Thursday including another 6 Kestrels. We are now up to a total of 38 for the season. In both 2005 and 2006, we had a total of 11 as of this date. We are being blessed by perfect weather, but what else is contributing to this abundance? The Kestrel population appears to be high this year and there are all sorts of other theories to postulate on, but in the end, what fun it is to have such a great start!

Jim Shiflet, Dalene, and Penny Lewis were on the ridge today. Besides the raptors they reported observing more Lewis's woodpeckers, Vaux and White-throated swifts and our annual Osprey that flys North over the west valley with a fish in her talons.

Raptors banded:

3 HY male AMKE
3 U male AMKE
6 HY female SSHA
1 HY female COHA
1 AHY female COHA

A trio of American Kestrels:

A Kestrel kind of day! August 29, 2007

The best day yet with a total of 9, and a record day for American Kestrels. Sue, Dalene, Pat and 3 first time visitors were treated to another day of perfect weather. It was in the 80's by mid afternoon with virtually no wind.

We started just after 7:30 and caught our first bird at 8:02. The early bird (trapper) catches the worm (most birds)!

The most Kestrels we have banded in 1 day since the project started in 2001 is 3, and we doubled that on Wednesday by banding 6. There were times when up to 3 were around the set together and at one point, 2 AMKE's were stooping a SSHA that landed in the close fir. One AMKE we banded had a grasshopper wing in with it's tail feathers.

Other highlights of the day were an abundance of Lewis's Woodpeckers, swarms of bugs moving through, and more than 17 Turkey Vultures observed, 2 of which Pat saw copulating in a fir near the power lines.

We are now up to a total of 24. In comparison to our other best years, in 2005 we had 10 as of August 29, and last year we had 9 as of August 29.

We are still waiting for our first NOGO, adult RTHA, and large falcon of the season!

Raptors banded:

1 HY male SSHA
1 HY female SSHA
1 HY female COHA
5 HY male AMKE
1 HY female AMKE

Photos of the day:

male AMKE



male AMKE



female AMKE

Keep 'em coming! Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Another good day for early season at the ridge. Pat Litle and Mike Walker reported in with 7 banded. He also noted that there were white throated swifts flying through all day and in the evening there were 2 nighthawks flying around the site. (There are more than raptors to enjoy up there!)

The close call of the day was a PRFA. (Maybe we will catch her on Wednesday!)

Raptors banded:

1 HY male AMKE
1 female AMKE
2 HY female SSHA
3 HY male SSHA

Photo of the day, female AMKE:

8 Banded! Monday, August 27, 2007

The first bird of the season was a HY F COHA. Martin Muller and Pat Little called in with the report. The weather was very pleasant, clear with some smoke from the Stehekin fire to the NE. The captures were nicely spread out over the day.

Heartbreak of the day story: Adult RTHA came in from behind, over the pigeon, straight through the dho-gazza and on into the sunset.

Raptors banded:

2 HY female COHA
1 HY female SSHA
1 HY male SSHA
2 HY male AMKE
1 AHY male AMKE
1 HY RTHA

Photo of the day, HY female COHA: