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

How cold was it? Wednesday, October 3, 2007

As cold as...... Nonetheless, the hardy all women crew banded 5 raptors for the day. They got off to a late start, after discovering on arrival that everything was coated with thick ice. The sun came out for a bit early on and helped with the process of clearing off the minimum gear needed to start.

As the day progressed every weather event possible proceeded to unfold. There was brief sun, hail, freezing rain, fog, snow blowing up hill, and of course, wind.

Sue, Dalene, Becky, and Michelle were rewarded with 5 hawks, including a Red Tail Hawk. There was also the delightful sighting of a bear on the power line road on the way up in the morning.

Raptors banded:

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


ASY female COHA


HY RTHA


Yesterdays quiz of the day winner is Bud, who identified the chipmunk as a duck.

1 More Banded - Tuesday, September 18, 2007

More clouds and rainy weather over the mountains today. The weather is one of the most obvious factors that determine how many hawks we see migrating. Pat called to say they only saw 10 today and they caught 1 Red Tail Hawk.

Raptors banded:

1 HY U RTHA

No photos were taken today, so I will entertain you with a few graphs. Our season to date total is at 203 and that is still above our biggest year ever, 2006.




Here is the graph that shows this years species composition to date:



This is the graph that shows the species breakdown for the years 2001-2006:

BIG Day - 21 Banded today! - Sunday, September 9, 2007

HY female Prairie Falcon

Congratulations to the team today, headed by Martin Muller and Mark Gleason. Not only did they top our biggest day so far this season, but they also brought in 2 first's of the season, a Prairie Falcon and a Merlin! AND they caught half of what they observed which is quite a coup. It is very rewarding after such a slow day yesterday.

The weather was clear and warm, with just a light breeze in the afternoon. The Prairie falcon played with them for half an hour before they were able to catch it. And she even had a full crop. Helping Martin and Mark were Rebecca Wells, Peter Klein and his son Gavin and his friend Sam.

(An addendum from Mark Gleason - A special thanks to Rebecca Wells who had to learn to spot birds, pull the pigeon, record data, and figure out how to use the photo function on the phone, all in crowded blind on the busiest day of the year. Not to mention Martin and my calm demeanor through out the day!
- Mark)


Raptors banded:

5 HY male SSHA
4 HY female SSHA
1 HY male COHA
3 HY female COHA
1 ASY male COHA
4 ASY female COHA
1 HY U RTHA
1 HY male MERL
1 HY female PRFA

HY male Merlin



We are now at a total of 113, just ahead of last year with 110 as of this date. Here is the updated graph:

4 Banded - Saturday, September 8, 2007

Today just goes to show, that we don't always know why there are some days when we get a lot of hawks, and some days when we get few. We do know that there is a peak towards the end of September. We are pretty much guaranteed of high count days if the weather is even half way cooperating. But for a day like today where the weather seems perfect, who knows?

Mark Gleason reports clear skies and very little wind. They only saw 16 and they banded 4. This brings our total for the year to 92. They did enjoy a Peregrine that came in close and teased them for awhile.

Raptors banded:

2 HY female SSHA
1 ASY female COHA
1 HY U RTHA


HY RTHA

Peregrine Falcon - Thursday, September 6, 2007

We have some slow days. We occasionally have a skunk day. And sometimes we wonder why we do this. Then we have a day that reminds us why.

Thursday was a day where perserverance paid off as Sue and Dalene banded the first Peregrine Falcon of the season. Humility was rewarded! It was still quite windy and the day seemd slow, but all that is forgotten when you have a Peregrine in hand. We also had a close encounter with a Merlin and a Prairie Falcon.

The total for the day was 7, for a season total of 83. Helping on the ridge Thursday were Barbara & Roger Johnson, Mary Rawlins, and Andrea Warner.

Raptors banded:

4 HY female SSHA
1 HY female COHA
1 HY U RTHA
1 HY male PEFA

Photos of the day - HY male Peregrine Falcon

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

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

"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

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: