5 More and Some Excitement - October 5, 2007

AHY Red Tail Hawk

Mike, Vicky, and Becky may not have banded a lot today, but this adult Red Tail Hawk must have more than made up for it. Vicky said it was BIG and the photo certainly shows that. There is enough overlap in size of female and male RTHA's that the only definitive way to sex them is through blood work. So we always leave them as U (unidentified) for their sex.

As if this hawk wasn't enough to make their day, a HY Golden Eagle came over and put on a great show for them. Becky sent some photos of the action.

The weather was mostly clear and the wind picked up in the afternoon. It was a typical late migration pattern, where streams of hawks were beelining North to South over the west valley, with little to no interest in helping us out with our project.

Raptors banded:

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

Late Breaking News! GOLDEN EAGLE

Pat Little with AHY male Golden Eagle

I just got this in from the ridge and need to post it before the day is through. I called to verify that the photo wasn't photoshopped (yes Pat, you do like to play tricks!). This is just the 3rd Golden Eagle that we have ever banded at Entiat since 2001. (This guy weighed 40 times more than a Sharp-shinned hawk they caught just before him.)

I talked to Pat Little and got the story. He came by around 4 PM. He was molting so he was after hatch year. They may be able to determine a definite age by reviewing photos of the plumage. It was also noted that he was very docile. Helping Pat on the ridge today were Gavin Brady, Gail Roberts, and Jody Marquadt. They had 8 total for the day.

Way to go Team!

Raptors banded:

1 HY female SSHA
4 HY male SSHA
1 HY male COHA
1 HY U RTHA
1 AHY male GOEA

AHY male Golden Eagle leaving Entiat



Here is the Sharp-shinned hawk that weighed 1/40th of the GOEA



We are now at a total of 131. Last year at this date we had 138. Last year it slowed down a bit on the next few days, so with the good weather forecast, there is a good chance we will soon be ahead of last year again.

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