October 26th

Sharp-Shinned Hawk

Here's the first of several installments from my trip to Cape May, NJ to watch the bird migration going south for the winter. Our group was privileged to see two hawks that were caught and banded during their journey. One was the Sharp-Shinned Hawk which is a small bird catching hawk, and it's larger look-a-like "cousin" a Cooper's Hawk. (Neither species prefers squirrels :>D).
The birds are carefully caught in a big, nearly invisible net that has a captive bird as a lure in front of it. (In some cases, as with the larger birds of prey, they use pigeons with protective leather jackets on to draw the hawk into the net area.) There are various types of triggers, including touching the net which causes it to close around the hawk and harmlessly capture it. Then the bird is checked for appropriate weight, sex (by their size and weight), age and health. A size appropriate, numbered band is placed on the leg, recorded, and then the bird is set free to continue it's journey. All this is done under the careful supervision of the Cape May Bird Observatory and it's volunteers.
Some hawks and warblers, fly as far as South America! Even hummingbirds fly to Central America!
The birds we saw were ready to be released, and after being shown to the group, we watched each fly away... A VERY MOVING EXPERIENCE!!
(I have to get a few hundered photos ready for the trip reunion, so my post processing is going slowly...I will put up some photos ASAP. Please bear with me.. I am just starting to use Photoshop Elements to post process AND convert all my RAWS to Jpegs...YIKES what a job!)

October 26th

Sharp-Shinned Hawk

Here's the first of several installments from my trip to Cape May, NJ to watch the bird migration going south for the winter. Our group was privileged to see two hawks that were caught and banded during their journey. One was the Sharp-Shinned Hawk which is a small bird catching hawk, and it's larger look-a-like "cousin" a Cooper's Hawk. (Neither species prefers squirrels :>D).
The birds are carefully caught in a big, nearly invisible net that has a captive bird as a lure in front of it. (In some cases, as with the larger birds of prey, they use pigeons with protective leather jackets on to draw the hawk into the net area.) There are various types of triggers, including touching the net which causes it to close around the hawk and harmlessly capture it. Then the bird is checked for appropriate weight, sex (by their size and weight), age and health. A size appropriate, numbered band is placed on the leg, recorded, and then the bird is set free to continue it's journey. All this is done under the careful supervision of the Cape May Bird Observatory and it's volunteers.
Some hawks and warblers, fly as far as South America! Even hummingbirds fly to Central America!
The birds we saw were ready to be released, and after being shown to the group, we watched each fly away... A VERY MOVING EXPERIENCE!!
(I have to get a few hundered photos ready for the trip reunion, so my post processing is going slowly...I will put up some photos ASAP. Please bear with me.. I am just starting to use Photoshop Elements to post process AND convert all my RAWS to Jpegs...YIKES what a job!)