Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Raptor Banding Trip 2015

If you are fascinated by birds of prey, this is a post for you. If birds ghoul you out, then click on past.

I inundated my Instagram and Facebook feeds with photos and videos last week, so time to top off the trifecta of social media and share them on ye olde blog.

I have aided with the raptor banding efforts for the Cape May Raptor Banding project since 2011. One of my best friends is permitted and I assist her (and other banders) to trap, band, process, and release these birds. The project has been monitoring the status of raptor migration every fall since 1967. It's a fabulous long-term project and I'm really grateful to get to be a part of it. It's a really great way to celebrate the 1x a year I get to see Mandy (as she lives in CA and I live in WV); it also makes for a really epic Girls Trip. No, this is NOT a part of my normal job and no, I do NOT get paid to do this. I take a vacation to go and volunteer with this project and spend quality time with my bff.


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Hatch year (HY) coopers hawk
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Team Redhead selfie!
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HY red tail hawk (RTHA)
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Kenai beaching it up
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One happy dog!
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Added Arthur to the blind for a day
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An epic pose with an epic bird - HY peregrine falcon
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A non-epic pose with the epic bird
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The box we sat in for nearly 10 hours every day
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Mature coopers hawk - ain't 'e a beaut'!
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Selfie with a female sharp-shinned hawk -- she looks so quizzical
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And now, the onslaught of photos of the second year (SY) male northern harrier (NOHA) I trapped -- I've been wanting one of these in hand since the very first year we went
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I was SO HAPPY. SO HAPPY.
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See that little brown feather? That was how we ID'd him as a SY bird
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This accurately describes my excitement about finally having a NOHA in hand
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Such an incredibly cool bird
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Beautiful "grey ghost"
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Look at his long legs! Better for snatching prey out of grasslands/marshes
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Another epic sunset night on the beach for Kenai
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Mature adult RTHA -- a GORGEOUS bird
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She was stabilizing herself in hand against the wind gusts (> 20 mph)
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So gorgeous!
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Talons! And her new jewelry - a band.
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Another RTHA later in the morning - and Mandy's sassy face apparently.
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I LOVE the eye color of these birds
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Shot of a HY RTHA release from my hand -- see the band on its right leg?
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Redheads with redtails. Both HY birds.
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And finally, the most epic release photo of a HY RTHA.

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