Quite the Catch

By Cory Ritter

Early to mid-September is a great time for hawkwatching. Big kettles of Broad-winged Hawks are probably what first come to mind when thinking about September raptor migration. Here at Hawk Ridge, however, it is the chance to see an out of the way Mississippi Kite or Swainson's Hawk that is most exciting to me.

Last year, we tallied one Mississippi Kite. This particular bird was high overhead among a kettle of broadwings, and I was too busy counting other distant kettles to look for it. Therefore, it was quite a treat to get to see some MIKIs this season.

I posted some photos of one Mississippi Kite the other day. As I mentioned in the post, that was the second of the season. What I didn't mention was that Nova Mackentley and I spotted one from her banding station the previous evening, which won't go on the official count. Then, we saw one last Mississippi Kite on the 16th of September, and now have three MIKIs on the official count for 2012!

As for Swainson's Hawks, we had another great year. Our count of 18 this season was a considerable increase over the 10 seen last year. In fact, we had 7 fly by on the 9th of September alone. However, the best day of the season for Swainson's Hawks had to be on the 15th of September. We only counted two that day. What really made the day, though, was that Nova caught one of them! From the counting platform, we were able to watch the Swainson's Hawk, call it in to the banding stations, and watch as it stooped into Nova's station.

Only two Swainson's Hawks had previously been trapped at Hawk Ridge, so it was quite the experience for all of us!

Hatch Year, intermediate/dark  Swainson's Hawk, 9/15/2012 (Caught by Nova Mackentley at Hawk Ridge)

Hatch Year, intermediate/dark  Swainson's Hawk, 9/15/2012 (Caught by Nova Mackentley at Hawk Ridge)

Hatch Year, intermediate/dark  Swainson's Hawk, 9/15/2012 (Caught by Nova Mackentley at Hawk Ridge)

Hatch Year, intermediate/dark  Swainson's Hawk, 9/15/2012, (Caught by Nova Mackentley at Hawk Ridge)

Hatch Year, intermediate/dark  Swainson's Hawk, 9/15/2012, Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory, release photo

Hatch Year, intermediate/dark  Swainson's Hawk, 9/15/2012, Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory, release photo

Hatch Year, intermediate/dark  Swainson's Hawk, 9/15/2012, Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory, release photo

Hatch Year, intermediate/dark  Swainson's Hawk, 9/15/2012,  Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory, release photo

Hatch Year, intermediate/dark  Swainson's Hawk, 9/15/2012, Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory, release photo

Welcome to Hawk Ridge: Here's a Mississippi Kite

By Cory Ritter

I just started my second season as the assistant hawk counter at Hawk Ridge in Duluth, Minnesota. Well, I suppose it has been over 40 days since I started, so I have some catching up to do with everybody.

The entire research crew is back from last year. Karl Bardon, lead counter, Frank Nicoletti, banding director, and Chris Neri and Nova Mackentley, raptor banders, all returned for another fall season at Hawk Ridge. In addition, Sam Roberts joined the crew as this season's owl bander.

We have had a great start to the season, and there have been far too many things going on to cover in one post. Therefore, I'll start back at the beginning of September; the 6th to be exact. Although the title gives it away, we had an immature Mississippi Kite fly by the overlook. This was our second Mississippi Kite of the season. However, the first was in late August--before I started counting on September 1st. The kite flew in relatively close and stayed in view for a few minutes while it soared around with a couple of Osprey.

Immature Mississippi Kite, Hawk Ride Bird Observatory, Duluth, MN 9/6/2012

Immature Mississippi Kite, Hawk Ride Bird Observatory, Duluth, MN 9/6/2012

Immature Mississippi Kite, Hawk Ride Bird Observatory, Duluth, MN 9/6/2012

Mississippi Kites are a casual species in Minnesota, and are seen at Hawk Ridge on a regular basis. However, there are many years without a MIKI on record for Hawk Ridge.

On a closing note, I must apologize for the low quality of these photos. Sometimes it's too much to ask for great birds AND great photos.