The Broad-winged Hawk Project: Trapping, and Banding and Tagging, Oh my! Part II

It is Thursday morning, and today is the day we are putting the units on the Broadwings. We gather outside of the Visitor Center at 8 am and discuss our plan of action and then head down to the River of Rocks nest site. Tree climbers from JoshuaTree, Inc., Josh and Jeff, follow Laurie and I to the base of the nest tree. David Barber and visiting raptor expert Marc Bechard set up a table for processing the birds, Zach, field assistant, positions his scope for a clear view of the nest, Terry and Megan are watching it all unfold and Mary is snapping pictures of all the excitement!

   It is time. Within a flash, Josh climbs to the top of the nest tree and begins prepping his equipment for the lowering of the nestlings. Each young bird is placed in its own cotton bag to keep it safe and quiet and then placed together in a larger durable protective bag for transit. As the yellow bag slowly makes its way down the tree I am already feeling 100 times better. I grab the precious cargo and make my way out of the rocky woods and onto the path where the team is patiently waiting. The first bird is weighed and then David and Marc begin attaching the back-pack mounted transmitter on the young Broadwing. While that is occurring I carefully hold the other nestling and Laurie starts taking measurements. Just like we did on Wednesday... weight, wing chord, wing flattened, tarsus, culmen, eye color, band number are all documented for each of the three nestlings.
   With only four units for the 2014 season, we decided to tag only the two larger nestlings at the River of Rocks nest site. So with units successfully attached to two young birds and the last juvenile banded, we placed them all back in the bag and carry them to the nest tree where Jeff and Josh quickly deliver them back into their nest. Hooray! The nestlings are healthy, and two satellite tracking units are safely attached. We all breathe more easily now.
   As it was still early we headed over to the other nest site in Shartlesville. Round Two. Both nestlings are carefully lowered down the tree by our professional climbers. Marc and David are waiting to affix a third unit on the heaviest bird. Everything goes smoothly just as before, both nestlings are banded and one receives a satellite transmitter, we send them back up into the nest. We celebrate our success with sandwiches from Heckys of Hamburg, snap some team photos, and drive home elated.

   With experienced trapper and researcher Marc Bechard visiting for another day, we decided that Friday morning we were going to head out to another two nest sites in hopes of trapping an adult. Leaser Lake was first on the list. A few hours passed, and although a Broadwing sat in a neighboring tree calling, it never dove at the Great Horned Owl decoy. We called it quits there and moved on to the second site in New Ringgold. Set up took longer than usual with mist nets to untangle but within 10 minutes after we took cover in the vegetation and the call of the Great Horned Owl played, an adult dove into our nets! We quickly retrieved it and rushed over to the scale hoping this one weighed enough that we could put on our last unit. AND IT DID! The team worked quickly and efficiently to band, process and tag the female Broadwing from the New Ringgold nest site. We did high fives all around when the bird flew away, with its transmitter safely attached.
   Another great day, and a piece of the project that we anxiously awaited, is now over. We are all very happy with the results. As of today, Tuesday the 15th, all birds that have been banded and tagged are alive and well. Transmitters are working and sending data. We checked on each bird over the weekend and everyone was safely in their nests. We expect birds to fledge soon and begin moving around. Once they have fledged we will update everyone on their locations as they disperse and in September make their way down South :) Stay tuned!