Banding season is underway.
This is the time of year I live for. I like the migration, like getting the odd day to head to the coast or into the delta... got to spend a day at Pt. Reyes weekend before last and it was great. But above all else, fall means one thing to me: The hawks are flying, and I'm spending some quality time with them. I am a lucky, lucky person.
Juvenile female Sharp-shinned Hawk (Accipiter striatus) full size here
One of the coolest things about working with these birds is locking gazes with them. They are keen observers of the world, and looking into those eyes is a rare and remarkable experience.
It's an odd autumn. Numbers are down, noticeably. Cooper's Hawks and Kestrels seem to be taking the biggest hit. Was it because we're into a second year of drought, and local breeding is down? Was it because there was a lot of rain and flooding in areas north of here, and that affected breeding for our migrants? Maybe West Nile is hitting more of the coast? Or is it just the occasionally down cycle? Who knows. Maybe we got too comfy with ever-increasing numbers and it's time for a coop-market correction.
Juvenile female Cooper's Hawk, showing the classic "block-headed" look.
I haven't had any huge number days, but I've had a few nice days. The weather has been sub-optimal (lots of fog, too much wind for the nets, or too hot so too many thermals), and the numbers of hawks coming through have been mediocre. But, damn... there have been some gems. Last Saturday we had a broadwing circling up just a few dozen meters from the blind (I know, common as pigeons in the east but a rare bird out here). On Tuesday, I took a day off from work for a little extra banding and we sighted two more. Just this past weekend, our program director was telling us how the first few broadwing records we submitted to the Bird Banding Lab were sent back as "misidentified" because broadwings do not occur on the west coast. (This was in the context of telling us how they rejected our excellently documented Eurasian Kestrel banding last season.)
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The biggest, baddest female sharpie I can remember - 180 grams of pure accipiter attitude.
In addition to the broadies, I had two lovely ferruginous hawk sightings. The first one actually started powering in to our site, and I was starting to believe we might actually get it - it would have been a one-in-ten thousand bird (literally). Alas, at the last moment it veered off like it had never seen us. The second bird sniffed around briefly before flying off, but it set our hearts on fire. It was a stunning dark morph bird... an absolute thing of beauty. But as it flew by, we could see a hugely full crop (bunny? ground squirrel?) and knew that it was ready to move on. ** sigh ** That same day, we had a merlin fly into the site, only to be met head on with a dark (Peale's??) juv peregrine. They instantly lost interest in us and began chasing each other around the hillside. Huge and powerful vs. blindingly fast and maneuverable... and both absolutely full of aggression and attitude. The whole encounter probably lasted less than a minute, but was seared into our memories.
Juvenile male American Kestrel... more of him at the tip jar.
Okay, so maybe the ultra-cool birds didn't visit. But I did get to spend time with a nice assortment of more common (but wonderful) species. I've had a few very nice, healthy, well-fed redtails. At this time of year, they can often be kinda thin, as they haven't quite developed their hunting skills since they've been on their own. But the 'tails so far have been in great shape. We had a female on Tuesday who weighed 1200g, and was solidly muscled. She's gonna make a great mom.
Juvenile male Red-shouldered Hawk (I loves me some lineatus!)
Kestrels... no females yet for me (I have a soft spot for them because the very first bird I banded was a female kes), but two boys so far. (And I had a wonderful merlin for a banding talk a few weeks ago.) The biggest treat for me - not one, but two lineatus! On Saturday we had a big solid female, and on Tuesday feistly little male. My blindmate took pix of the Saturday bird (he's a much better photographer than I) but I did get a few of the Tuesday boy.
Big, healthy juvenile male redtail. This guy was in perfect feather, very meaty and muscular, and his eyes were already beginning to take on their adult color.
Thanks again to juliewolf for hosting last week!