Boise Peak Raptor Trapping = awesome

Posted on October 16, 2012 by Erin Strasser

From late August through the end of October I am trapping and banding hawks, falcons, and (hopefully) eagles as they migrate southward for the winter. Situated at the southern edge of the Boise Ridge at 6525 feet elevation, perched within viewing distance of Boise, Idaho lies the Idaho Bird Observatory’s (IBO)Boise Peak hawk migration trapping station.

Boise Peak. The bald face on the moutain is where the trapping station is located. Photo by Erin Strasser.

The Boise Peak blind. Photo by Erin Strasser.

Migrating raptors are concentrated and thus easier to trap here because of the landscape features. Raptors use thermal uplift generated from the mountain slopes, expending as little energy as possible as they move southward. The Boise front is also the southernmost extension of the Idaho mountains, ending abruptly at the Snake River Plain.

An adult male Coopers Hawk. Photo by Erin Strasser.

But how do I capture these hawks? Well here in lies the most intriguing, exciting, and yes, addicting part. For those of you who hunt, fish, or enjoy any type of tireless and time-consuming effort with sometimes no payoff, you will understand the allure of hawk-trapping. Lure birds (House Sparrows, Ring-necked Doves, and your standard pigeon), all of which are invasive and non-native and therefore not protected by the Federal Migratory Bird Act are used to lure in hawks as they migrate past Boise Peak.

The aptly named “Cow Rug”, one of my lure birds. Photo by Erin Strasser.

Each lure bird wears a protective harness which is attached to lines that run back to the blind where I sit. These lines are pulled causing the lure birds to pop into the air and flap their wings. The largest lure bird, the pigeon is “popped” every 90 seconds, so that any passing raptor will be drawn into the trapping station.

View of the lines running from the blind to the lure birds. Photo by Erin Strasser.

Depending on the size of the raptor, I will then use the smaller dove or sparrow to lure it in. Three types of nets, the Dho-gaza (DG), bow-net, and mist-net are used to capture the raptor. The mist-net and DG which surround the lures are virtually invisible to the raptor which will hopefully fly into and become tangled.

The mist net. Photo by Erin Strasser.

The bow-net on the other hand requires the raptor to land on the lure bird. A trigger is then pulled and the spring loaded bow-net closes on top of the bird.

Two bow-nets and DG's surrounding the sparrows. Photo by Erin Strasser.

What I do all day. Photo by Erin Strasser.

Click here for a video of Sharp-shinned Hawks flying around the station.

After being captured, hawks are banded with uniquely number federally-issued bands, and data is gathered on body size, age, and sex.

Meauring wing length. Photo by Erin Strasser.

At the end of the season, information on the birds and the band numbers associated with them are reported to the USGS Bird Banding Laboratory (BBL). The hope is that birds will be recaptured or recovered, giving us an idea of where they go and how long they live. For those of you that ever discover a banded carcass, please report that band to the BBL.

Bands of various sizes, each specific to a species and/ or sex hang from the wall of the blind. Photo by Erin Strasser.

A size 7A band on a Red-tailed Hawk. Photo by Erin Strasser.

On August 31^st 2012, after two full days of set up entailing running lines, placing dho Ghaza poles, fixing DG’s, adjusting lines, pruning the surrounding vegetation, cleaning the trailer of hopefully Hanta virus-free mouse droppings the fall migration hawk trapping season was ready for action. Although it was already 6:00 pm I was itching to start trapping. Shortly after I started I captured a Hatch Year (HY, that is a bird that hatched this spring/summer) Sharp-shinned Hawk The following day I was pleasantly surprised to trap and band 17 birds, an fairly high number for this early in the season.

A female American Kestrel. Photo by Erin Strasser.

Early in the season early we primarily capture hatch year accipiters, our sharpies and Coopers Hawks. Migration phenology follows a fairly distinct pattern. As mentioned, hatch years birds pass through first, followed by adults.

Head shot of a hatch year Sharp-shinned Hawk. Photo by Erin Strasser.

Adult Sharp-shinned Hawk (in this case an after second year or ASY). Photo by Erin Strasser.

It is always exciting to see the first adult accipiter as they are strikingly different in appearance with their orange to brick red eyes, slate gray upper parts, and rufous barred underpants.

This late summer and fall forest fires are pervasive. Smoke has on many days obscured my view of Boise and the surrounding landscape.

Smoke obscures my view from the blind. Photo by Erin Strasser.

It has led me to wonder how this affects raptor movements and even survival. I can only hope it doesn’t affect my numbers too much!

Gathering Aerial Footage for IBO

Posted on September 25, 2012 by Neil Paprocki

In February, we released four Webisodes detailing the research and education being conducted by Idaho Bird Observatory’s fall banding station at Lucky Peak. During the fall of 2012, we are continuing this partnership by gathering more video to produce a longer 10-15 minute video about IBO’s overall mission; not to mention spending time at Lucky Peak helping to collect data on songbirds, raptors, and owls whenever we can. It’s way too much fun NOT to do it!

Before take-off. Photo by Neil Paprocki

As part of this effort, I had the privilege of joining long-time IBO supported Dennis Fitzpatrick a few weeks ago in capturing some aerial footage of the Boise Ridge funneling birds south to Lucky Peak. We took to the somewhat-smoky skies above Boise in his Cessna 206 to document the aerial view birds see when approaching Lucky Peak during fall migration! Here are some production photos from the morning of filming:

The Camera used to gather aerial footage. It is attached to the end of the left wing. Photo by Neil Paprocki.

The Boise Foothills. Photo by Neil Paprocki.

Flying super-low over the raptor trapping blind, just like a raptor would be doing during migration! Photo by Neil Paprocki

Coming in for a safe landing at the Caldwell Airport after filming. Photo by Neil Paprocki.

The Cessna 206 we flew in. Photo by Neil Paprocki

A special thanks to our pilot, Dennis Fitzpatrick, who we hope to continue collaborating with on future projects, and to collect additional aerial footage for IBO!

Idaho Bird Observatory: Part 6

Posted on October 24, 2011 by Wild Lens

As the trapping season at Lucky Peak winds down for the year we can reflect on some of the trends we have seen. One thing that stands out is that 2011 has been a huge year for owls. IBO has trapped and banded almost 500 Northern Saw-Whet Owls (pictured below), and over 60 Flammulated Owls! For Saw-Whet’s, this marks the highest trap total since the inception of owl trapping in 1999 when over 800 Saw-Whet’s were banded. The number of Flammulated owls banded is also unusually high. Some of the reasons why owl numbers fluctuate so much between seasons is not well understood, but may be related to fluctuations in prey abundance (small mammals and insects).

It has also been a good year for raptor trapping, and as the total number of migrating birds decreases, trappers at IBO get excited about the possibility of trapping some “sexy” birds. Towards the end of the season, birds migrating from farther north tend to show up in small numbers, giving trappers the opportunity to trap and handle rarer birds such as Merlins, Northern Goshawks, and Peregrine Falcons. It has already been a good year for Merlins, and it continued over the weekend as IBO Research Director Dr. Jay Carlisle trapped his first adult male Merlin (pictured below).

Northern Goshawks are another raptor species we biologists get excited about. Goshawks are part of the Accipiter genus of raptors, and are closely related to Sharp-Shinned and Cooper’s Hawks. Goshawks are the largest member of this genus weighing upwards of 1,000-grams, almost twice as much as a Cooper’s Hawk. Goshawks breed in the conifer forests of Alaska, Canada, and the American Rocky Mountains preying on birds and mammals as large as rabbits. IBO traps around 25 individuals per year, and we were lucky enough to trap a juvenile male on Friday, October 21st. After banding the bird, IBO director Dr. Greg Kaltenecker let his daughter Ayla release the bird. I managed to snap this photo of the little 5 year old (almost 6 as she told me) releasing her first Goshawk!

Neil Paprocki

2011 Raptor Research Foundation Conference

Posted on October 10, 2011 by Wild Lens

This past week found myself in Duluth, Minnesota along the shores of Lake Superior to attend the 2011 Raptor Research Foundation (RRF) Conference. Duluth is home to Hawk Ridge, one of the longest running and busiest hawkwatch sites in the country, and a sister site to Lucky Peak in Idaho. Hawk Ridge annually counts over 93,000 migrating raptors, making it a far busier flyway than Lucky Peak. Raptors generally do not migrate over large bodies of open water, so forest dwelling species from up north get funneled along the western coast of Lake Superior until they hit Hawk Ridge in massive numbers and can begin a more direct southerly migration. Hawk Ridge is most notable for its large annual number of Sharp-Shinned (12,500) and Broad-Winged Hawks (36,000) counted. Hawk migration sites such as Hawk Ridge and Lucky Peak are located all across the country and play an important role in long-term monitoring of raptor migration numbers,

The view of Lake Superior from Hawk Ridge in Duluth, MN.

While I was attending the RRF conference primarily to present some of my preliminary research findings from my Master’s thesis, I was also able to gain a better understanding of how Wild Lens can contribute to the scientific side of conservation. It is the hope of Wild Lens to be able to present our future research findings at such prestigious academic conferences as these. Educating the public also plays a very important role, but it is also key for us to help contribute to the collective body of scientific knowledge about potentially declining, understudied species. This can spur other researchers to begin studying these same species in other areas, and raise awareness within the academic sciences.

Neil Paprocki

Future bird enthusiast releasing a Sharp-Shinned Hawk (tail just visible).

Idaho Bird Observatory: Part 5

Posted on October 4, 2011 by Wild Lens

Before heading up to Lucky Peak for my weekend fixin’ of field work, I managed to convince fellow graduate student Rob Miller to let me accompany him on a day of trapping at Boise Peak. Boise Peak is another trapping station run by IBO, and is located approximately 5 miles north of Lucky Peak along the Boise Ridge. Here the business is strictly about trapping raptors, as no songbird or owl work is done, and very few visitors make the drive up the rough, washed out road to the top of the mountain. Boise Peak generally traps fewer birds than Lucky Peak, but the diversity of birds trapped tends to be greater as a lot of Northern Goshawks and larger Falcons are trapped here. We managed to trap 13 birds on Wednesday, including a young Cooper’s Hawk who’s mouth was literally full. His crop was so full of food that it was overflowing out of his mouth, and he still wanted more as he tried to come and take our dove lure! Click on the picture below to get an even closer look. Would you still want to eat more food if you were this full? You might if you still had thousands of miles to travel to your wintering grounds…

Photo by Rob Miller

On Friday we made our way up to Lucky Peak where we were fortunate enough to be joined in the trapping blind by Merlin Systems founder Ed Levine and Peregrine Fund neotropical raptor biologist Marta Curti. They showed a group of students various telemetry and transmitter equipment used to mark birds in the field to determine their movements. They also showed us how to place these transmitters properly onto birds so as not to harm them. This was accentuated by the fact that 2 more merlins were caught on Friday and Saturday. Along with merlins trapped on Sunday and Monday, Lucky Peak went 4 consecutive days with a merlin trapped, which is outstanding! See part 4 of this blog series for more info on merlins. But just for fun, here is another picture of the merlin we trapped last week.

Photo by Rob Miller

Saturday night brought out more owl trapping, including more Flammulated Owls! Owl bander Jethro managed to catch 2 Flammulated and 2 Saw-Whet owls before having to close the mist-nets due to high winds. The picture below of one of these Flammulated Owls and might just be the cutest thing you ever saw, these guys are so tiny! How can something so cute be so understudied, with such little known about it’s basic biology? Makes you think.

Neil Paprocki

Idaho Bird Observatory: Part 4

Posted on September 28, 2011 by Wild Lens

The weekend of September 23, 2011 was the busiest of the year at Lucky Peak. It was so busy in fact that the number of visitors (75+) on Saturday actually outnumbered the songbird and raptor trap total (~55) for the day! It was a great day to be up on the mountain interacting with the public as several large groups were in attendance. IBO was hosting their first raptor workshop from Friday-Sunday, and around 15 individuals from all over the country were in attendance. The main goal of the workshop was to help these folks gain field experience in raptor identification skills. On Saturday they spent most of the day at hawkwatch looking for migrating raptors and learning how to ID them in flight. Birds were also brought up from the trapping station for a close up look at key identification features. Pictured below is fellow Boise State University Raptor Biology graduate student Patrick Kolar showing off a female Sharp-Shinned Hawk to the workshop.

The highlight of the weekend bird-wise came on Friday afternoon as we managed to trap a male Merlin. Merlin’s are similar in size to their falcon cousin the American Kestrel, but nest almost exclusively throughout Alaska and Canada. They can be distinguished from kestrels by their overall darker appearance (usually), lack of russet coloring on their back, and lack of strong facial markings. Merlin’s migrate to the continental US in the fall and winter where they are found in usually much smaller number than kestrels. Pictured on top is the male Merlin we trapped on Friday. For comparison I have also included a picture of a male American Kestrel I trapped in Boise last winter.

Neil Paprocki

Photo by Rob Miller

Photo by Neil Paprocki

Idaho Bird Observatory: Part 3

Posted on September 19, 2011 by Wild Lens

While not the first “official” day of fall, the weekend of September 16th certainly felt like it. Temperatures up at Lucky Peak did not get out of the 60s after temperatures had consistently been in the 80s all September. Friday night up on the mountain got down to the low 40s, providing a crisp Saturday morning of songbird and raptor trapping. Friday was a slow day of trapping as a cold front had just moved through and migration numbers at IBO are typically depressed in the days immediately following a low-pressure system (Miller et al 2011). However, my heart was beating through my chest as a juvenile Golden Eagle approached our pigeon lure, pulling out of a stoop and flying off about 10 feet over the lure, so close!! He will not get away next time…

Friday night found myself accompanying IBO owl trapper and bander Jethro, along with a scientific immersion class from Boise State University. Jethro managed to trap a Northern Saw-Whet Owl (pictured below) along with a Flammulated Owl. Jethro has caught 21 Flammulated Owls so far this season (only 3 were caught all last year!), while Northern Saw-Whet migration has just started. IBO is gathering important information on owl migration which is very understudied given the secretive nature of these nocturnal forest dwellers.

Things started to pick up on Saturday as migration resumed it’s daily routine. Sharp-Shinned, Cooper’s and Red-Tailed Hawks were all trapped before I departed the mountain around 4pm. Before leaving, myself, along with fellow graduate student Robert Miller, and IBO Director Greg Kaltenecker (pictured below educating local kids about songbirds) gave several short talks to a group of undergraduate students taking part in an overnight scientific immersion class with Dr. Jen Forbey. I gave a roughly 10 minute talk about the effects of climate change on raptor and songbird migration. These public talks are an important part of what IBO is trying to accomplish in educating the local public about raptor and songbird conservation, and is part of what we hope to convey in our upcoming video collaboration with IBO! Until next week…

Neil Paprocki

Idaho Bird Observatory: Part 2

Posted on September 13, 2011 by Wild Lens

The view from Lucky Peak was dense with smoke on an eerily yellow/orange colored day last Friday. The smoke was from wildfires raging far to the north near rain-deprived Salmon, Idaho, and the view to Boise in the valley below was almost totally obscured. At the end of the trap day, almost everyones eyes were bloodshot from smoke. Smoke aside, however, it was a great day to trap birds as winds were calm and out of the northwest, perfect migrating conditions for raptors on the movie south. We were also lucky enough to have noted raptor biologist Bill Clark (pictured at left with a Cooper’s Hawk) in the blind with us all day. Bill is a raptor identification specialist, and it was an amazing experience to have such an expert with us all day. In all, we trapped 25 raptors from about noon to 7:30pm, my busiest day trapping yet! We managed to trap another juvenile Red-Tailed Hawk, along with four Cooper’s Hawks (pictured at right), and numerous Sharp-Shinned Hawks and American Kestrels. A beer never tasted so good on my smoke-parched throat! Stay tuned until next week for more updates from IBO.

Neil Paprocki

Wild Lens teams up with Idaho Bird Observatory

Posted on September 7, 2011 by Wild Lens

Spending labor day weekend outside of Boise at Lucky Peak volunteering for the Idaho Bird Observatory (IBO) was an experience I thoroughly enjoyed. IBO is a non-profit organization determined to monitor and conserve North America’s migratory landbirds. I spent the weekend assisting executive director Greg Kaltenecker and research director Jay Carlisle with songbird, owl, and hawk trapping. Friday was particularly exciting as near the end of the trapping day Greg and I (along with some other Boise State University students) managed to trap this beautiful juvenile Red-Tailed Hawk.

Wild Lens is happy to announce we will be working with IBO this fall to produce a video on how public outreach and education of migratory landbirds is happening at IBO. Educating the public is a large part of what both Wild Lens and IBO hope to contribute to wildlife conservation.

You can also read more about other potential future projects on the website (Projects). We are always looking toward the future for ways Wild Lens can make a difference in species conservation!

Neil Paprocki

Teaser Trailer Posted

Posted on August 29, 2011 by Wild Lens

Check out our Webisodes page for the newly released, and long anticipated, trailer for the upcoming film “Scavenger Hunt”.