Well last week we caught the male merlin that is breeding in Sanfordville. The female hit the mist net too, but the wind caused the net to billow toward the bird and it just bounced off. But the after hatch year (AHY) male is gorgeous, check for yourself!

Well the kestrel project hit the air ways today. We were on the news, WWNY TV. Check us out at www.wwnytv.com and search for manske.

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We are almost done making the documentary about the kestrel project for WPBS TV. It should probably air sometime this fall. YNN channel 10 news was out last week to do a story on the project too. In addition to all the TV time, we also finsihed the first chapter of our book. It is at the editors right now. So as you can see even without all the kestrels, it has been a very busy summer over here at Adirondack Raptors. Wish us luck!

With the 2010 kestrel season rapidly coming to an end it is time to update the numbers. So far we have banded 171 chicks and 14 adults. We still have one nest with unbanded chicks and fledglings are starting to turn up all over the study area! For the past 4 days I have been woken by the chatter of kestrels in my trees harassing the blue jays and chickadees. We only had 2 boxes fledge before we got to them. There are still 17 nest boxes that have eggs in them, but most, if not all of them will fail at this point. Forty-six of the 138 boxes that were up this season produced chicks and another 32 had eggs. This season has been an utter success at many levels. We also captured a returning adult female. She bred on the study area this year too. Twenty-four new boxes have been put up to replace old or unproductive boxes and 36 more will be placed before the summer ends. Two curious events occurred this summer. First, I picked up the returning female below her nestbox. She was lying on the grass when I climbed off the ladder. After checking the band number and her condition I held her out and she flew off. Her flight was very strong and 10 days later I banded her chicks with her circling and cacking above me. The second interesting finding is another first for me after 12 years of kestrel work. We discovered 3 tiny chicks and 2 eggs during our first visit on 24 June. When I returned to band the chicks on 12 July, I found and banded 4 chicks but also discovered 4 new kestrel eggs in the box.

Meghan Jensen and Jonas Borkholder and I check 31 nest boxes on the 20th. Sarah S. Norton and I check the last 114 boxes in the past 3 days. So far we have banded 120 chicks and 12 adults. There are at least 40 chicks too small to band in boxes getting ready for some ankle bling and easily 60 more eggs. If 15 hatch I will be happy. We could break 200 banded kestrels this season. Yeeeeehaw!!!!!

With the first 31 nest boxes checked, we have already banded 41 chicks and have 4 boxes with tiny chicks and 4 with eggs. This looks like it is going to be a huge year. We still have 114 boxes to go and our highest number of chicks produced in one year was last year at 145. Looks like it could be a new high!!!

Well kestrel season has officially begun. We banded 5 large chicks on the 13th and another box has tiny chicks in it. So the madness begins.

Well we are up to 13 active goshawk nests and we spotted our first bear of the season so it will not be long now before we start banding kestrels. Numerous kestrels have been sited and several nest boxes throughout the studt area and things have been looking very promising, but with this streak of very hot weather (high 80s to low 90s) I am worried about the eggs getting fried in the nest boxes as it happened in 2006. Check out the porcupine pictures from our last nest searching outing.

Yesterday was a completely magical day. We found 5 active goshawk nests, bringing this year's total to 12 so far. Still way behind last year's 18 but we are gaining fast. Most gos are now on chicks. We also spotted a female fisher in the trees and a unique looking redtail. Life does not get any better than this baby!!!

In the news recently we keep hearing about the oil spill. It is not an oil spill, a spill is a one time occurance, this is a gusher pumping out 100s of thousands of gallons a day with no end in sight. Where are the drill baby drill crowds, where is dear old Rush? We have drastically screwed up our planet and where is the coverage? We hear stories of how people are going out and "rescuing" wildlife from the oil, but where are they going to go? They need habitat to survive and we have carelessly squandered their habitat. My kestrels and other raptors overwinter in the Gulf. I am wondering how long it will be before we start to notice the toll that the oil gusher has on them? We need to stop this insanity and use or brains!

We banded one of the 2 breeding merlins on Paul Smiths Campus 3 weeks ago. They have not started nesting yet, so we decided to give it a shot before we got too close to nesting time. Check out the pictures of our catch.

Yesterday we went to Derby Hill for the first time this season. They have already had over 13,000 raptors fly over. We were there on a cool overcast day (temperature in the 60s) and winds WSW. Unfortunately we did not see alot and most birds were pretty high up, but we did see the following; several dozen turkey vultures, 6 osprey, 1 sharp-shinned hawk, 1 red tailed hawk and 1 northern harrier.

Well we are rapidly heading toward the 9th season of the kestrel project. I have been eyeing kestrel pairs at many of my nest boxes. Let's hope they decide to use them. Already started getting permission to put up new boxes on 7 new locations. Have also found 6 active goshawk nests so far and 1 female red-shouldered hawk sitting in last year's nest. We also banded the female from the Paul Smiths College campus nesting pair of merlins. She flew straight into my new mist net. Did not take long to process her at all. She was an ASY (After Second Year) bird. Copulated with the male just before we caught her and went back to the male to scold us.

Today we started in ernest searching for this years active northern goshawk nests. We checked one area and came up with sign all over and 2 old nests. At location 2 we spotted a huge adult female perched right beside last years nest. At location 3 we found an active raven's nest and at the last location a brand new nest with sign everywhere. I guess gos season has begun. Yeeeehaaawwwww!!!!!

I have been spotting red tailed hawks sitting in nests, barred owls are hooting and goshawks and kestrels are back in the area!!! Spring is finally here.

Today we went to Champlain to try and catch and band the northern hawk owl that has been there most of the winter. We saw it and it was even over 2 traps baited with mice, but no go!!!! Last year there was a hawk owl half a mile away from this location and I did not band it because a few birders would have been upset. Imagine, not wanting to find out all you can about a bird and also to check on its health. I have finally come to the conclusion that I am not apologizing for banding raptors, we find out a wealth of information with each banded bird. I am now making apologies for those who do not want us to band. We should have banded that bird last year, then we could tell if it is the same bird or a different one.

During our last trip to Amhesrt Island we spotted 1 Coopers Hawk,12 Red-Tailed Hawks, 3 Rough-Legged Hawks, 1 Bald Eagle, 2 Northern Harrier, 1 American Kestrel, 1 Snowy Owl, and an unknown raptor. We also spotted thousands of ducks and swans.

I am going to Amherst Island one last time for the year. We have seen Red-Tailed Hawks, Rough-Legged Hawks, Bald Eagles, American Kestrels, Northern Shrikes, Snowy Owls and Northern Barred Owls during our first 2 visits. We are hoping for something new and spectacular!!!

I submitted an article about the first 8 years of our kestrel project to the New York State KINGBIRD for publication. We are also presenting our findings at the WILD CENTER this saturday at 1:00 PM. I hope to see you there.

Well we are heading to Amherst Island this Sunday to check out the owls. Last I heard there are snowies, long-eareds, short-eareds, boreals, saw whets, and a variety of hawks on the island.

The rough-legged hawks have finally arrived. We had 5 roughies on the BCs on saturday and we caught one of them. That night we renoosed 2 traps and went out Sunday in the blizzard to try our luck with freshly noosed traps. Nobody came in Sunday, too bad because we would have caught quickly with fresh nooses. There were at least a dozen roughies, 2 red-tailed hawks, a bald eagle, and a Coopers' Hawk sighted this weekend.

This red-tailed hawk was not doing as well as I would like to see. It was slightly underwieght and had several broken and bent flight and tail feathers. We caught it late in the day and it was turning dark, so we banded and processed it and then kept it overnight. During the night we warmed it and left food for it to eat. That got it through another extremely cold night and pumped some calories back into its system. Them we let it go!

Cold temperatures are a certainty living here in the North Country. Last night we finally dipped below zero degrees fahrenheit and it may drop into the negative 20s tonight. Boy am I glad I invested in baseboard heat for my raptor mews. The heaters were finally completed and up and running yesterday and not a moment too soo to. It was -7 degrees F this morning. The cold should also get the owls roosting together on the porch of the Great Camp Sagamore very soon. It will not be long now before we are snowshoeing out to the camp to catch and band the owls. My presentation at the Wild Center on my kestrel project is getting closer too. The presentation will be at 1:00 PM on 13 February in the Center's Flammer Theater. This presentation will happen just before I submit my data to the Kingbird (NYS Ornithological Groups) Journal for publication. After the presentation we will be building several kestrel nest boxes that I will be putting up on the study area. All are welcomed so I hope to see you at the Wild Center on February 13th.

With the lack of anything feathered and snarly in the area for the past several weeks we decided to start nest searching early this year. Early searching has its advantages, i.e. no bugs or leaves and you can figure out where you were by looking at your tracks. The disadvantage is tons of snow! Even though we only have about 14 to 18 inches on the ground in the woods it can wear you down. I had been given a line on a possible old gos nest and we decided to check it out. It only took us a half and hour to walk directly to a beautiful nest that was almost certainly used last year. At the second location that we checked we were not as fortunate. We walked for several miles and found absolutely nothing (with the exception of an ancient nest I had found years ago and is almost completely apart). This is how you find nests Brian. Get off your butt and get out there. On the way home we also finally started spotting some raptors again. One distant raptor appeared to be a red-tail but it was over a half a mile out and I was driving so the species identification is alittle suspect. But, 7 rough-legged hawks of various morphs were sighted throughout the region. It will soon be time to go banding owls at the Sagamore. Can't wait for that amazing opportunity.

Yesterday I took the birds to the Lake Placid Lodge for my weekly visit and Tess was part of a wedding!!! Second wedding this year that she gate crashed. There was plenty of excitement and lots of people. Check out the pictures.

Every time I pass the town building on highway 458 I see at least one pair of bald eagles feeding on the road killed deer that the highway department collects and places there. Check out my pictures. My presentation at the WILD CENTER about the kestrel study will be at 1:00 PM on February 13th.

Through the years I have had a long standing battle with the local weasels. They seem to delight in sneaking into my pigeon coop and killing all my pigeons. I have captured and removed weasels from my pigeon coop throughout the years and last night one returned to wipe out all my pigeons except for 1 and 1 of my 2 roosters. So today I set a have-a-heart trap with canned dog food at the door of the coop. When I returned from Lake Placid I checked and sure enough I caught the little blood sucker. Do not know what I am going to do with it, but it has to be moved from my yard. Next thing I know it will be in killing my raptors. A roosting hawk is easily killed by a weasel. I am not worried about the owls because they will see it coming and can take care of themselves.

For the past 3 weeks the immature red tailed hawks have been moving in force through the region. Today we spotted 12 red tailed hawks (mostly immatures), a roughed leg hawk (the 4th of the season) and a large accipiter, probably a goshawk with a huge bulging crop. I will be presenting our kestrel data at the WILD CENTER on the 13th of Febuary. When I get the time I'll let you know. All are welcome.

One day in September I received a frantic phone call from a woman who had an interesting problem. It seems as if a wayward peacock had taken up residence in her neighborhood and they were worried about its wellbeing. It is not unheard of around here for the temperature to drop below -40 degrees Fahrenheit, far too cold for a peacock to survive. Without really thinking about it I agreed to capture this escapee and find him a new home. No one was certain where the bird came from so if I caught it I had to find a new home for him. I thought to myself “how hard will it be to catch a peacock it has a brain the size of a pea”. I checked with my friend Naomi, she had peacocks, emus, chickens, parrots, cockatiels, and several other birds. She quickly informed me that she was not looking for another bird but could help me place it if I caught it. She obviously thought I would fail because her and her husband, Butch, had failed to retrieve one of theirs that wandered off the previous year. My original plan was to place a hen in a 2-chambered trap in the yard and when the peacock that they had named Sam went to visit the hen it would get trapped in the chamber beside the female. This technique was used by the guy who caught Naomi’s wayward bird the year before after several failed attempts by Naomi and Butch. But this plan was scuttled when I could not find a hen that anyone was willing to loan me for my fantastic plan. Later that week I made a trip to investigate the area and determine my next plan of attack. The house was at the end of a Col de sac and the back yard sloped dramatically down to the Raquette River 100 yards away. Most of the slope was covered with brush and trees. This was apparently where Sam spent most of his time during the day. The neighbor in the nearest house informed me that he felt sure that Sam roosted on his deck. Initially I was extremely hopeful because I could just grab him at night while he roosted on the dark deck. Diurnal birds do not like to move much at night because they cannot see too well with poor lighting. Unfortunately, after waiting for 2 weeks for a call from the neighbor telling me that the bird was roosting within reach that did not come, I decided to try plan C. At this point, I was rapidly running out of plans. Armed with a bownet, I headed over to quickly put an end to the elusive Sam the peacock saga. A bownet is a net that is staked to the ground and when triggered the top half will flip over its intended target and thus pinning it to the ground. This type of trap is used quite frequently and is highly effective in catching migrating raptors. Some bownets can be triggered by the target species, some are remote controlled, and some are manually triggered with a string. Mine was a homemade version that was string triggered and totally untested. I had used bownets before but never one of my own making and definitely not on a peacock, a much larger bird. Sam was a pretty large bird and I was not 100% confident that he would fit within the trap. But as I have already mentioned I was now on plan C and my credibility was at stake. They told me that the bird came to be fed everyday at 4:00 PM and so I arrived to set up around 3:30 PM. I quickly found out that Mrs. Watts always left food out for the bird and to make matters even better she would call it in and leave seeds out at a specific location. My plan was going to work I just knew it! Quickly, I scouted the feeding site and decided to set the trap around the food pile and run the string along the ground back to a corner of the house. The string was to the staked down along the ground so that it would not distract the bird or flutter in the fall winds. I was also very pleased with my vantage point. I was 12 feet from the corner of the house and 20 yards from the feed pile. I did not have to look around the corner I simply peered through the living room window and out another window on an adjoining wall. From this location I could see the trap and bait. I knew the bird would be able to see me, but reasoned that his pea sized brain would conclude that I was in the house. Apparently, Sam had become accustomed to people moving around in the house and would on occasion watch people in the basement through certain windows. I set up my foolproof scheme and waited for the hapless bird to stumble into my trap and I prepared to pounce! “He won’t know what hit him” I thought as I waited next to the cold brick wall. Half an hour later I will be walking away with a peacock and another item crossed off my bucket list I chuckled. There was only one problem!! Sam decided not to play by my rules. At my cue, Mrs. Watts walked out into the back yard with a bucket full of cracked corn and sunflower seeds. She rattled the can and called “Hear Sammy- Sammy -Sammy” and waited for the peacock to make an appearance. Sam slowly made his way around the house toward the food pile. Once in sight, Mrs. Watts poured seeds on the pile and retreated into the house. Once the obstacles were removed, Sam strutted slowly and deliberately toward the food cache. I gripped the string and waited to pull the trigger as he approached even closer. My mouth was dry as he tilted his head and examined the trap. I was confident that he would not figure out this setup. How could he with such a pea sized brain. I watched in growing amazement as Sam circle the trap 5 or 6 times before he noticed the string. To my utter shock I felt the string being tugged as Sam moved out of view and toward the corner of the building! He was slowly moving toward my hiding spot. I toyed with the notion of leaping through the open window I had been looking through but as the sounds of his feet shuffling through the leaves got closer I froze. As I stood motionless pinned against the wall of the Watts’ home, Sam stuck his head around the corner of the house and stared at me. “Unbelievable” I thought as I stared at the amazing bird. After several breathless seconds Sam ambled into the brush. I could hear him moving around just out of sight for a few minutes and then he popped up next to the house again and stared at me. Then with no sense of urgency he went back to the trap and circles it again. After circling the trap for another 5 times he then went came back to check on me. He did this one more time brfore he finally strolled off for the night. My reputation was now definitely in trouble! A bird with such a tiny brain had just shown me up. There was nothing left to do but leave the trap with trigger string intact and leave it tied down for the week. The bird needed to get used to the trap and then I will catch it without hesitation. I told the Watts my plan and they agreed to watch to see if Sam would get used to the trap. All week I grappled with thoughts of failure. What would happen if I was outsmarted again? On Saturday I called and was pleasantly informed that Sam had apparently accepted the trap and string and was no longer wary of either. Furthermore, he would eat seeds directly inside the catch zone. I was ecstatic, this time I was going to leave with Sam in the pet carrier. Mrs. Watts informed me that he was like a clock and always showed up at 4:00 PM to be fed. As the week before, I got there early to check the trap and make sure it was in working order. Quickly the trap was readied and I sat back and waited for Sam to show himself. As I watched through the windows and waited I was horrified to see the blue jays and grey squirrels all over the net. One misplaced foot could trip the trap and clue my hapless quarry into my intentions. Slowly the time slipped by as I watched with baited breath as the jays and squirrels hopped all over the trap collecting seeds. Finally, at 4:45 PM Mrs. Watts came to the window and said that Sam had been spotted moving slowly toward the food. Time seemed to stop as I stared through the windows waiting for him. Mrs. Watts went out and shook the can and called for Sam. The squirrels and jays were now in a feeding frenzy hopping all over the trap. “One wrong move and it will all be over” I thought as I peered helplessly through the windows. “He’s here! I heard and looked up to see his beautiful iridescent blue neck shimmering in the sun. Incredulously, Sam followed the string to the corner where he stared at me yet a fourth time. After several tense moments Sam finally turned and strolled back to the food pile. He started to feed on the seeds along the edge of the pile because to my chagrin the grey squirrels were still in the trap center stuffing their cheeks. Sam appeared reluctant to get closer to the squirrels and they did not appear ready to leave. “This is just great I am going to fail because of some overstuffed furballs” I thought. But at the moment Mrs. Watts came to the rescue by opening the door and chasing away the squirrels. Sammy backed off 5 feet but stopped when she added more for to the pile and retreated back to the house. Finally, the squirrels were gone and Sam was literally feet from the trap. My hand tensed around the string as Sammy moved to the food pile. He started feeding at the pile with total disregard for the trap, but he was not in the catch zone yet. If I pulled the string now I would hit him which could hurt or scare him. So I waited for the right moment. To my horror he started walking away from the trap and I thought I missed my only opportunity even though I knew he had not been trappable. Sam started quickly walking away from the trap until he was about 15 feet away. Then without reason, he turned and walked straight into the trap zone. I had to wait for him to lower his head to feed so that he would not get hit in the head. My heart skipped a beat as I waited for him to lower his head. Finally he reached down for a beakful of seed and I pulled the string. As if in slow motion the trap sprang to life and swung over Sam’s body. Too late to escape Sam tried to leap free but the net was now over the top of him. I leaped from my hiding spot and bolted around the corner of the house. Sam was twenty yards from me and struggling to get free. My homemade bownet was made to catch hawks and owls for banding purposes not peacocks. Raptors are powerful birds, but their power is in their grip and the net would hold them easily. Sam is a ground bird and its power is in its legs. I could see his back ripping through the netting. I rushed forward as his shoulders emerged from the net and leaped to grab him just as his neck started to disentangle itself from the trap. I barely had time to grab him before he had struggled completely free of the trap. Mr. and Mrs. Watts hurried out the door inquiring what to do. I yelled “Grab my hat and bring it to me!” My hat had fallen off as I sprinted to the struggling bird. Mr. Watts rushed over and grabbed it from the ground and brought it to me. I immediately covered Sam’s head with the hat and he stopped squirming. We then rushed him to the pet carrier and I placed him safely inside. After allowing the Watts’ family to say goodbye to Sam I rushed him off to his new home and the saga of Sam the peacock had a happy ending.

I just put a picture of a kestrel chick that grew up in the fields of a farmer who also raised chickens this year. They both hatched this summer.

Saturday several gabboons and I met Wendy Hall and her brother to band a young great horned owl that she raised and is ready to release. The owl had been found apparently abandoned and observed for 2 full days before Wendy, a licensed New York State rehabilitator finally took it under her care. She made sure to limit her contact with the bird thus insuring that the owl was not imprinted on people and very wild. The banding took place in Freer Hall at the Paul Smiths College campus. The owl was extremely healthy and looked great. Wendy did a great job with the owl and plans to fly it in a flight chamber tomorrow and if all goes well then it is to be released. October 11th heralded the beginning of a new tradition up here. The first annual gabboon-a-thon took place. Several of the gabboons participated: Josh, Cody, Lauren, Nathaniel, Dan, and Jonas. Along with several others: Megan, Rachael, Colton, and Chris, our first gathering was a success. The objective of the gabboon-a-thon is to gather the gabboons for a day together, test new traps and techniques, and find those birds that are still in the area. We broke into 3 teams and canvased the area. We also placed a Swedish goshawk trap near the rabbit farm where yhe "free range rabbits" are getting freely picked off by the free range great horned owl and northern goshawk. Unfortunately, nothing decided to investigate our setup. The day started out very cloudy and had few sprinkles, but by 7:30 AM the sky began to clear and the Gabboon-a-thon was on. Temperatures hovered in the 50s all day and numerous raptors were seen. Species observed included; northern harriers, red-tailed hawks, American kestrels, Turkey Vultures, and possibly a Coopers' hawk or 2. The plan was to go until sunset, but car problems caused an early ending of the activities. By 3:00 PM all the traps were gathered and gabboons were heading home. Only 3 adult American kestrels were banded, one male and 2 females (one was a recapture from this summer). But the first gabboon-a-thon was labeled a success!

The migration started with a trickle this year in early August. One of the kestrel chicks I banded in thye Brasher Falls area appeared in Croghan later that month. By late August to middle September the broad-wings were moving. As mid to late September came the kestrels and harriers really started moving. Now late September to early October the red-tails and accipiters are moving through the region. Saturday we banded an immature red-tail and spotted at least 8 others. We also saw 1 Coopers' hawk, 4 northern harriers, 3 American kestrels, and dozens of turkey vultures. Sunday we banded 2 more red-tails and spotted at least a dozen. Also seen were 6 kestrels, 1 Coop, 4 harriers, 1 merlin, and again dozens of turkey vultures.

During the past 4 weeks I have been watching a pair of nesting red-tailed hawks near my home. They nested in a large maple tree on the edge of a woodlot next to farm fields. By late summer the adults and the 2 chicks were perching on power poles about 150 yards from the road. The adults would never look at my bcs. Older and more experienced birds are harder to catch because they have been around and have learned about traps or at least to be more wary. Initially, the young had proven to be very hard to catch too because the parents were feeding them and they were not experienced enough to go after our pigeon or even mouse lure. But as time progressed the parents weaned the young off themselves and forced the young to start fending for themselves. Last week I caught one of the siblings and this weekend Meghan (a gabboon) and I caught the other one. Both birds were very timid at first and showed their inexperience at hunting. But persistence paid off and we finally caught both. The first bird was probably a female, it had large feet and its mass and wing measurements were quite large. A couple from Potsdam were passing by and stopped to watch the banding. Yesterday's bird was much smaller and was undoubtedly a male. Both birds were caught less than a half of a mile from each other and both were in great shape. However, we did find flatflies on them. These are parasites that live under the feathers. It is currently believed that the west nile virus is passed from bird to bird via blood-sucking hippoboscid flies (AKA flatflies). So whenever these flies are found they are killed and the birds are sprayed with an insecticide that will kill the parasites but not harm the birds.

We banded 5 broad-winged hawks this summer. This is real exciting because there are only 3 species of raptors that migrate across the equator. The Swainson’s hawk in the western United States and the Turkey Vulture and Broad-winged hawk in the eastern US. This gives us 5 chances that our bands could be crossing the equator real soon. Broad-wings are energy efficient migrants and are reliant on the use of thermals to get to where they are going. Due to their reliance of the thermals, they need to migrate very early, before the ground gets too cold to produce any thermals. We were seeing large numbers of broad-wings as late as two weeks ago, but lately there has been none to be found. Once they start migrating, a huge wave that lasts about a week to ten days can be seen but after that they have moved through the area. We banded our first migrating immature red-tail last week and are going out tomorrow to see if the migration is kicked in majorly or is still just a trickle. The evenings have become much cooler and songbirds and geese have started moving in large numbers so I would expect this is true with raptors too. Speaking of geese, Frieda, my female Harris Hawk took a shot at her first Canada Goose the other day. She had the goose back peddling like crazy, but lost interest when she realized how big it was in size. It was easily 7 to 10 times bigger than Frieda. Oh well, it was a good start.

As the Fall migration kicks in and opportunities to band increase so does the chance of something negative happening. Through the 27 years I have been banding I have calculated that I have banded over 4000 birds and we have never had a death or injury to the bird. I have been occasionally footed by a feisty raptor, usually a kestrel but unfortunately every so often something bigger like a red tail. But nothing too serious... At least not until this past Sunday when one of my gabboons got grabbed by a very large and snarly red tailed hawk (1360 grams). The hawk drove the hallix into the palm of her hand about 1.5 inches. Thankfully I was able to pull it out quickly and we administered first aid quickly. Her hand has no signs of infection and is healing quickly. This incident helps to stress the fact that these birds are powerful and can be dangerous if one becomes lax. No matter how careful you are, you can always be alittle more vigilant.

The fall migration is finally in full gear and with the migration comes disappointments. We saw at least 5 red tailed hawks, 1 unknown eagle, 12 kestrels, 1 broad winged hawk, 1 osprey, 1 merlin and dozens of turkey vultures. After several attempts to catch birds that were not interested we finally had a very interested red-tailed hawk. This adult bird (it had a red tail) attacked our trap, a bc with vigor. After about 5 minutes we had caught it. Quickly we drove to the bird and jumped out of the car. I could see the huge feet, no band and bright red tail and knew we had an adult female. Raptor females are larger than their male counterparts and this bird was huge. I ran to the back of the car to get something to cover the bird while Meghan ran to the bird. As Meghan was about 3 feet from the bird and reaching out for it, the bird slipped the noose and flew off. And so begins the 2009 FRall migration.

The fall migration is finally started. The broad-winged hawks, kestrels, red-tailed hawks and goshawks are moving! During this dseason we catch migrating raptors next to the road by dropping a BC from a moving vehicle. The BC or bal chatris is a type of trap that holds the lure animal inside it. The raptor can see the lure, but not reach it. When it tries to grab the lure it gets entangled in the slip knot nooses and is caught.

The tally is in and the numbers are great. We ended up with 296 kestrels on our study area. This is almost 6 times more than what we started with when we started the management project 8 years ago.

Well, we have come to the end of another kestrel season. Our numbers are increasing with every year. We haven't done the official tally, but it should be somewhere close to 300 birds on our 118,000 acre study area. The actual number should be determined by the end of the day. We banded 145 chicks and 30 adults. During the intial year we only banded 13 chicks, 1 adult and counted only 51 birds on our study area. Stay tuned to find out our official tally.

Today started out the same as usual. We all got up exhausted from lack of sleep and too much to do. We are looking for a broad winged hawk nest with branchers in the nest because the rehabilitatot Wendy Hall has a young Broad Wing to foster out so that it can start migrating soon. We have a few possibilities that we were checking on today and then it happened... Lauren needed to get going home, but was hoping to band one more bird before she left. Boy, did we find the bird for her! We found a family of merlins playing in a mud puddle and tail chasing each other. After various fail attempts at catching Momma, we finally caught her with a dho gaza. We also banded 2 broad winged hawks in the past few days. By the way, our 5th mystery bird was a young broad winged hawk. Have a great day and remember it is a great day for banding!!!

Try our 5th mystery raptor. It was found below a nest in northern New York.

The total kestrel count is as follows: 145 chicks banded, 25 adults banded and of those adults 2 were returns. At this point we are focusing totally on adults and we will do a final check of nest boxes from August 4th through 8th to find second clutches and late nesters. We also found a turkey vulture nest in an old well house at a farm with at least 1 chick in the nest.

The gabboons and I have been extremely busy this summer. We have shattered the previous record of 109 chicks banded with 138 and we still have 7 chicks in boxes that need a little bling!! So far we have captured and banded 22 adults. One of these adults was a recapture that we banded last year breeding at the same box and the other recapture was banded as a chick the year before and came from a nest about 6 miles from its nesting box. We are starting to piece together certain questions that arise when conducting a project like this one. Last year we recaptured a male that we banded from a box 5.5 years earlier. We also had a brother/sister comination found on the same day during the fall migration. The male was found in Camden, NY and the female in Greensboro, NC. So if we were to believe the limited data it appears our population is skirting along the western edge of the Adirondacks. We also had one of our chicks migrate as far as Houma, LA, just southwest of New Orleans on the Gulf Coast this is about 1600 miles south of us. We have also started banding our local northern goshawks. We banded a local bird that had probably fell out of the nest last week. It was probably a male judging by its size and measurements. Males reaptors are smaller in size than are the feamles. We also captured and banded our first adult of the year. She was a beautiful after hatch year bird that was just gaining its grey feathers and with gorgeous orange eyes. Of our 17 nests, 6 definitely failed (2 due to logging directly to the tree, one due to a probaly predator such as a raccoon or fisher, one due to some idiot with a shotgun, one that was very late in hatching and then failed a week after tiny dropping started falling near the nest tree, and one for some unknown reason). We also came accross our first black bear of the summer. That makes at least one bear for the past 3 years. The gabboons and I aslo helped with the goose round up and Paul Smiths College where were caught and banded 46 Canada Geese. Even though it has been a very wet summer, we have made the best of it and have had a very successful first half of the season. At this point we are focused on catching as many adult kestrels as possible. We have also started conducting presentations throughout the area with the 2 Harris Hawks, Great Horned Owl and Barn Owl. We have presented twice at 4H Camp Overlook, 1 time at the Whiteface Lodge, and one time at the Lake Placid Lodge. We are scheduled to appear at the Lake Placid Lodge every Saturday from 5:00 through 7:00 PM, this thursday at Higley Flow State park from 6:30 through 7:30 PM, the Whiteface Lodge on July 31st from 7:00 through 9:00 PM, and finally another return trip to 4H Camp Overlook on July 20th from 7:30 through 8:30. We hope to see you there!!

Well, we have now banded 121 chicks and 18 adults and the season is in full swing.

The 2009 american kestrel season began on June 24th. During the 5 day kestrel "blitz", we checked 144 boxes and banded 109 chicks and 13 adults. We still have 30 boxes with eggs and/or chicks that were too small to have been banded yet. Phase 2 of the season begins tomorrow. We now will begin focusing on catching and banding the adults and late hatchers. This may not be as intense as the blitz, but it does drain you but the end of the season. We also banded our first goshawk of the season. A beautiful female was found on a stump directly under one of my nests. Mamma was not very happy with us at all, but we processed her as quick as we could and tried to disrupt the family as little as possible. Pictures of our work with both species will soon be up on the web site.

Well today is the beginning of the 8th kestrel season. We will be starting checking boxes today at 1:00 PM eastern standard time. Our goal is to band over 120 chicks and 80 adults for the year. Let's hope the kestrels cooperate!!! Mystery bird number 4 is up and I dare my older brother to try this one!!! The bird was found in St. Lawrence County yesterday (23 June) in the town of Brasher. Good luck!!!

Well we are only one week away from the openning of kestrel season. My goal this year is 120 chicks and 80 adults. Last year we banded 109 chicks and 53 adults. We also have 17 goshawk nests this season. Two failed due to logging, one had shotgun shells under the failed nest, one had been destroyed probably by a fisher, and one that failed for unknown reasons. One nest the female is still sitting on the nest and the other 11 all have chicks in the nest. We are also working with my new barn owl. Tess is about 40 days old. I have placed some pictures of her on the web page.

During the past year there has been alot of amazing wildlife spotted during raptor excursions. Here is a list of the following amazing animals sighted during our trips. A mother bear and 3 cubs 2 other bear 3 moose 2 baby fishers and an adult 1 river otter 3 golden eagle 1 bobcat And finally yesterday, while coming out of the St. Regis Mountain Wilderness area I spotted a mountain lion. There is plenty of wildlide to see up here, so come on up and see what you can find.

The broad-winged hawks have hit the Adirondacks in force this past week. We were at Derby Hill last Saturday when 10,000 hawks flew over with the majority of them Broad-wings. By Tuesday the Adirondacks were filled with hundreds of them. The kestrels have been paired up at nestboxes for the past few weeks and finally the females have started sitting on eggs in the boxes. My students and I also found this year's merlin nest on the Paul Smiths College campus. We have 12 active goshawk nests, possibly 3 sharp-shinned hawk nests, a great horned owl and barred owl nest, and several red-tailed hawk nests at this moment. This promises to be an exciting year for raptor work.

Well here we are in mid April and I already have plenty of nesting raptors. I have 1 great horned owl nesting in an old goshawk nest, a barred owl nesting in an old crtows nest, 12 active goshawk nests, at least 4 red-tailed hawk nests, at least 2 pairs of merlins are beginning to set up territories, 2 bald eagle nests, and dozens of kestrel pairs are selecting their nest sites.

Today my high school class went to Derby Hill to check out the migrating raptors. The temperature was in the low 50s and the wind was out of the SE. A cold front was moving in, it was ideal conditions for great birds and the hill did not disappoint!!! We saw 1 bald eagle, 1 northern goshawk, dozens of sharp-shinned hawks, 8 red-tailed hawks, 3 red-shouldered hawks, 4 American kestrels, 1 merlin, 3 osprey, 3 northern harriers and close to 100 turkey vultures. The rain hit after we left. It was a spectacular day overall.

Well, we began searching for active northern goshawk nests this weekend. I have 5 active nests and 1 with a great horned owl nesting in it. So far there are 2 nests that are not active this year, but I still have 30 old nest site locations to check. I have to do nest searches during the afternoon after tomorrow, because we open the banding station at derby hill next weekend.

The second mystery raptor was a white-tailed hawk, one of my favorites. This picture was taken by Jonathan Wood in Texas. Our third mystery raptor can be seen now.

For those of you who tried mystery bird number 1, it was an immature northern goshawk. Mystery bird number 2 is now up. Take a shot and see if you can identify it correctly.

Today some of my students and I went to Amherst Island outside of Kingston, Ontario. Amherst Island is known for its raptors and in particular its owls. While on the island, we spotted 1 Boreal Owl, 1 Northern Saw Whet Owl, 4 Snowy Owls, 4 Bald Eagles, at least 24 Rough-Legged Hawks, 14 Red-Tailed Hawks, 4 Northern Harriers, a 1 Northern Shrike. The weather was fantastic and it was a great day for birding. Also, identify our second mystery hawk. The picture was taken by Jonathan Woods.

It is time to update the world on the 2 raptors we brought to the rehabilitator this winter season. The immature red-tailed hawk that we caught on a bal chatris along with an adult red tail had been zapped by a power line. It had a major laceration on it upper right leg and had some infection and growths on its feet. Our rehaber has had the bird for alittle over a month and the laceration is healed and the feet are being treated with antibiotics and look much better. We hope to release it sometime this Spring. The great horned owl that was found hanging from a bared wire fence made it through 2 weeks and then abruptly died. We are looking into what finally caused its demise.

This has been a great year to view northern owls. There have been several sightings of the northern hawk owl in Potsdam, Peru, Champlain, and a few other locations. We spotted a snowy owl in Philadelphia and Malone. There have been numerous other reports throughout the North Country. There has even been a few random sightings of a boreal owl in NYS. We are hoping this owl trend continues because we are planning a trip to Amherst Island next weekend to visit Owl Woods. The red-tailed hawks have all been paired up and sitting together next to their nests for the past 2 weeks. Some females have even been spotted on the nest.

See if you can identify the raptor shown in the picture labeled mystery raptor!

Today we checked out the hawk owl that we banded last Monday. It is doing fine!! Then we proceeded to catching and banding 3 more red-tailed hawks, 2 on the same trap at the same time. One of the birds had an injury, so we took it to Susan Stattler, a NYS licensed rehabilitator. I have added some pictures of the birds we caught today and closeups of their eyes. As red-tails get older, their eyes get darker. One bird had incredible eyes, the lower half dark and the upper half light.

It has been awhile since my last blog, but today was well worth the wait. We banded to huge adult red-tailed hawks today and also a Northern Hawk Owl just outside of Potsdam. The hawk owl appeared to be inexcellent health and the plumage and measurements suggested that it was a second year female. Video footage of our catch will be on by tomorrow. Numerous other raptors have been spotted this week... 18 red-tailed hawks, 11 Rough-legged hawks, 6 bald eagles, 1 peregrine falcon, 1 Coopers' hawk, and the northern hawk owl. Not bad with the temperatures below -30 degrees F.

Today was an amazing day in the raptor world in northern New York. Meghan and I spotted at least a dozan rough-legged hawks and at least 8 red-tailed hawks and 1 great horned owl. We banded to red-tailed hawks and 2 rough-legged hawks. We captured a red-tailed hawk and a rough-legged hawk on the same trap. See pictures.

Well it is finally roughie weather!! We have had 4 days below zero degrees and the snow cover is at least a foot on the ground. We have built our new trap and are ready to test it out very soon. Pictures of the trap and our catches will be posted very soon. Three roughies have been seen in the vacinity.

My overly ambitious Female Harris Hawk chased a white-tailed deer out of the woods today. She chased it for at least a quarter mile until they were out of sight and stooped at the deer 3 times. It returned to me when I called it. I do not think it hit the deer, but I do think it was chasing it out of its territory. Quite ambitious though!!!

Well now that we are in the middle of November, the rough-legged hawks are popping up all over. I spotted 3 in on field in the Bombay, NY area.

Well the first big storm of the year hit us last night. We had at least a foot of snow and power is out all over the north country. This weekend Jonathan Brown from North Country Public Radio and I are going out to band some raptors.I am pretty excited about that. Hopefully we will catch a big red-tail.

The frost lay heavy on the ground as I walked into the field. I walked onto the field as the eastern sky was about to explode into the sunlight as the darkness of the night quickly retreated. it is one of those cool Autumn mornings that we live for in northern New York State. You can see your breathe and feel the cold air on your face. The perfect day to fly my Harris Hawk Eddie. Eddie sat quietly on the glove looking out over the field. He is on the alert and knows it is time to hunt. As we walked acroosed the meadow, my boots crunched the frosted ground. By the time I reached the treeline, the sun had broken over the eastern horizon, batheing the countryside with crisp golden rays of sunlight. We finally close enough to an inviting tree, so I raisemy arm and Eddie to the sky. Normally at home, Eddie is always squaking at me. He is a 4-year old Harris that I was given to me when he was 3. The person who gave him to me told me that he was very quiet. Boy, did she lie!!! But when hunting, he is quiet and focused. Eddie perched on a leafless branch some 100 feet away from me. He turned to watch me and was ready in case I scared out some quarry. With Eddie perched and watching, I began zig-zagging the field hitting clumps of grass with my stick trying to scare up some prey. At that point, my attention is directed on finding prey and I ignore Eddie. As I neared another tree, I could hear the gingle of his bells as he whiizzed over me to perch closer to me. We continued like this for over a half an hour until Eddie spotted some movement ahead of me in the tall grass. My brush beating activities has disturbed a hen pheasant in the taller grass near the corn field. The pheasant tried to avoid detection by running in the grass ahead of me. But Eddie's keen eyes picked up her movements. Eddie is about 60 feet away from the pheasant and to my left. There is no breeze so he does not have to fight the wind. Finally, the pheasant broke cover and rushed to another clump of brush 8 feet away. In a flash, Eddie launch himself and hurtles toward his target like a feathered missle. Eddie closer in fast and with only 10 feet to go, the pheasant finally spots him and she tries to escape. With an explosion of wingbeats, she rockets skyward trying to escape. But she is much too late. With each passing second, Eddie is gaining speed and he prepares for the impact. Eddie strectches his talons toward the pheasant and slams into her. In a cloud of feathers they tumble to the ground. On the ground, the pheasant tried to escape, but his hunting instincts kick in and Eddie foots the pheasant merciously. The hen pheasant is easily much bigger than Eddie, but he is tenacious and armed with 8 razor sharp talons. With every grab, 4 daggers pierce the pheasant and search for blood vessels and organs. Seconds after the intial hit, I reach them and help finish off the pheasant. Finally, I enjoy the beautiful cool Autumn day as Eddie sits on top of his catch feeding.

Yesterday, my gabboons and I took a trip to Point Pennisula on the corner of Lake Ontario just below the St. Lawrence River to check out the migration. The colors of the leaves are amazing this time of year so the drive was spectacular. The trip gave of great views of many raptors. We counted 41 turkey vultures, 23 red-tailed hawks, 7 northern harriers, 1 Coopers' hawk and 1 American Kestrel. We tried to band some birds, but had no luck. We had an amazing red-tail (she was huge) fly and hover over the trap as if she were a rough-legged hawk. This is very unusual behavior for a red-tail, they normally slam into the trap from a perch. This one flew around it and even hovered over it only 2 feet off the trap on 2 separate attempts. She was on the bal chatris (our trap) for a grand total of 1 second. A bal chatris is a noose trap and it only works if the bird is on the trap and moving its feet. Our second strange bird was just out of Watertown. We spotted a red-tailed hawk on a power line, not the pole. This in itself was strange. Red-tails will rarely use wires, but it is not common. But what really made this bird different was the fact that when I went to pick up the trap it stooped at the trap. It basically acted like it was not afraid of me at all. Could have been an old falconry or rehab bird, or maybe a bird raised by people. Either way, we had a great view of it. Sarah took pictures, so I should have them up soon. The bird had a red tail so it was at least past its second year, because it also had new and old red feathers. Its eyes were very dark too, so I think this bird is older than two years. Anyhow, the Point was awesome yesterday, too bad no captures. Also, it is very obvious that the kestrels are gone.

Today we banded a huge red-tailed hawk. Her mass was 1435 grams, this is the second largest red tail that I have ever banded. The largest was in Wisconsin in 19845 and its mass was 1450. We are heading over to Point Pennisula region tomorrow to band. Should be plenty of red tails there.

I spent Columbus Day banding in early morning with Marilyn Mayer of St. Lawrence University; Susan Stattler, a NYS rehabilitator; and Susan's duaghter Racheal. We caught a huge adult red-tailed hawk (1250 grams) within the first half hour. From that point on we spotted many red-tails and harriers, but unfortunately did not catch anything else.

During the summer 2 young kestrel chicks were brought to Jackie Cooper from Adams, NY. Jackie is a licensed rehabilitator and she contacted us to help the chicks get back into the wild. The chicks were fostered into a nest with 5 other chicks approximately the same age. They were fostered out on June 25th and they along with their foster brothers and sisters all fledged.

On September 27th we caught a male kestrel that I banded as a chick on July 7, 2003. The 5+ year old kestrel was healthy and appeared to be doing well. This is the oldest return I have receieved on one of my kestrels since the project began in 2002.

Yesterday we caught a 842 gram red-tailed hawk that I banded earlier this summer. It is probably a male, because males tend to be smaller, but it is not 100%. My appentice, Josh will train this bird this winter as a falconry bird and let it go next summer. He is calling it Augustus and it is a beautiful bird. I hope to have pictures up this week of him.

This past week has evidenced the beginning of the major migration push in northern New York. During the past 3 day we spotted 4 Coopers' Hawks, 2 sharp-shinned hawks, 43 turkey vultures, 6 red-tails, 27 American kestrels, 1 merlin, 1 peregrine, 18 broad-winged hawks and 1 bald eagle.

The Fall migration has officially begun. Today while trying to catch a passage American kestrel, I spotted 2 Cooper's Hawks, 1 sharp-shinned hawk,5 red-tailed hawk (and recaptured 1 we banded earlier this summer), 5 northern harriers, and 32 turkey vultures.

Today we went to John Dillion Park in the Adirondacks to band northern goshawks. The gos have been using the park roads for hunting lanes and have been seen all over the park. Unfortunately, we had very little luck with no gos sitings. The big excitment was that one of our BCs were taken and it turns out that the people who took it saved it from a bear. We did catch our first red-tailed hawk of the migration, a small after hatch year probable male. Tomorrow my apprentice and I attempt to catch him a passage kestrel.

Well another kestrel season has ended. We banded our last 3 chicks today. They were approximately 2 weeks old and 3 little females. The total for the season was 109 chicks banded and 42 adults within the study area. Our numbers have increased by 5 times since we introduced the 130 nest boxes to the area.

I set the Dho Gaza with a cage of starlings out on Paul Smiths College campus near the merlin nest. Merlins have been fledged for a couple weeks now. The chicks were in the trees above the set, but the parents did not make an appearance. One starling managed to open the door and escape from the cage. It sat in the lawn and ate for awhile and then flew past the merlins in the tree, one of the chicks took a shot at it, but it missed and the starling flew off to colonize more of North America. At that point it began to rain, so I pulled the set and left.

Last night the gabboons and I went to a local barn and collected starlings. Tomorrow morning I am going to try to Dho Gaza the merlins that nested on the Paul smiths College campus.

Today the people from the Wild Center and Liz, a librarian at Paul smiths College, came with Lisa, Sarah and I to check our last 6 nest boxes. I have 130 kestrel nestboxes that we have monitored for the past 7 years. Our goal this year was to band 100 chicks and at least 40 adults on the study area. By the end of today we have banded 106 chicks and we still have 2 chicks in a box and maybe one box left with eggs. We have also banded 53 adults.

I gave an educational presentation at the 4H Camp today. I brought my 2 Harris Hawks (Eddie and Frieda) and my Great Horned Owl (Scooter). The Harris Hawks are both 4 year old falconry birds and the Great Horned Owl is a rehabilitated bird, age unknown.