On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
Wow, somebody is pissed off at #7! Yikes. Wonderful set.
Albatrossity
Because I take way too many pictures of hawks, I sometimes get contacted by hawk researchers to get more details about some of the bird images I post on FaceBook or on eBird. This is a great way for me to learn more about the birds and the folks who study them.
One of those contacts led to a small adventure in late February, when I had the privilege of accompanying Bryce Robinson and Luke Decicco, of the Red-tailed Hawk Project, on an expedition to trap, tag, and perhaps put transmitters on some of our winter-resident dark hawks. Bryce is a graduate student at Cornell, and Luke is a graduate student at the University of Kansas, just down the river from my town of Manhattan KS. They are interested, like lots of others, in the multitude of plumage variations in Red-tailed Hawks, and are working to figure out the summer breeding locations for some of the dark redtails who winter here on the Great Plains. You can read more about the project here.
It was a blustery overcast day when I met up with them in the morning to find and trap and tag some of the birds I have been tracking locally. Per usual, the birds that I had located that might be of interest to them were either AWOL that morning, or ignored the trap. But finally they managed to get one of the birds that I had seen several times previously this winter. This guy.
Trapping Red-tailed Hawks is usually done with a device called a bal-chatri, which consists of a bottom-weighted wire cage that holds a couple of conspicuously visible small live rodents (mice, gerbils, etc) that might be of interest to a hungry hawk. The top and sides of the cage are covered with monofilament nooses that entangle the talons of any raptor who pounces on it to get the rodents who are safely inside the cage. Similar devices, sometimes baited with birds rather than rodents, have been used for centuries to capture falcons for hunting. The loaded trap is tossed onto the ground from a slowly moving vehicle when an appropriate hawk is sighted; the vehicle and its occupants then move a distance away to park and watch. When the bird gets tangled with the trap, they quickly move in to grab the bird and reassure the terrified rodents. Here’s a shot of that process.
Once the bird is safely in hand, and the rodents back in the warm car, photos and data collection commence. The hawk is held firmly by the legs, so that it cannot use the talons to shred the researchers, and it often displays its irritation. This one looks particularly irritated because of those bright yellow eyes. Plumage characteristics, especially the tail, identify this bird as a second-year dark-morph Harlan’s Hawk.
And here’s a shot of that gorgeous tail!
The bird is photographed against what might be the world’s largest 18% grey card, which helps researchers ensure that the photos are exposed properly even under varying light conditions. The other useful tool in this image is the 24-patch Color Checker that ensures that the color balance of all images (of this bird and any other birds captured) can be corrected if needed. Wings, tail, and facial shots are taken.
Spread wing shot
I do like the white eyebrow on this bird, which makes it look even more scary and pissed-off.
Bands are attached to the bird, a regular metal Bird Banding Lab band on the right leg and a colored re-sighting band on the left; those are partially visible in this shot of yours truly holding the bird. This bird ‘s color band is blue with the alphanumeric code 0Y. If you see him, let me know! Blood and feather samples are also taken for later chemical and DNA analyses. Some birds get transmitters; for various reasons this bird was not fitted with a transmitter. Transmitter tracking data from two birds trapped last year can be viewed here.
The entire process takes about 25-30 minutes, and the bird is then released to seek more palatable and less magical small rodents. Here’s a video of the release.
If want to see some of the other hawks trapped so far this winter, here are some pics. And here’s a link to a page to contribute to the project, should you desire.
Chris T.
How many is too many? Is it like cats, where if you have 1 or 2 you’re normal, but somewhere between 3 and 8 you become the Crazy Cat Person?
raven
Incredible !
Wanderer
Best self portrait ever! What a beautiful bird.
wvng
What a great story. I hope the terrified rodents were given some sort of treat, so they would look forward to the next time.
About 50 years ago I helped trap vultures at the Miami City Landfill using cannon netting technique with seafood scraps from a high end restaurant as bait. That was fun too.
debbie
Do they ever calm down and stop fighting being held?
Albatrossity
@debbie: They stop fighting, but would not describe that face as calm, and that is the face they maintain until they are released!
oldster
Amazing pics. Thank you.
I don’t see you guarding against the beak — will they not try to shred you with that?
Albatrossity
@oldster: The talons are the major weapon. Even when folks band eagles, they don’t worry so much about the beak
MazeDancer
Totally fascinating!
MelissaM
Wonderful and fascinating and such a beautiful bird! I think that face is telling you all the things the talons want to do to you.
Is the guy grabbing the bird in pic 2 wearing slippers??
susanna
Wonderful photos! Such glorious closeups.
I find it hard to take in their fear, while also admiring their fierceness in protesting. All for the greater good, I’m sure. Thanks for these.
Chat Noir
I love your posts and pictures! Always fascinating.
pat
Love the gray card. At first glance I thought you were using the car.
Thanks for these.
TomatoQueen
Wonderful & fascinating! I was familiar only with mist-netting for birbs before. A bit worried about the poor mice but bastard rodents carry Hantavirus so not too worried.
4D*hiker
Awwww What a great post! I loved it and the pics/links. Thanks!
mvr
This is so cool!
jame
Where is the picture of the frightened, but safe, mice?
BigJimSlade
Thanks for the great post!
citizen dave
This is super cool! Now when pixar has an eagle character with eyebrows I’ll know where it came from.
My belief is the rodents live comfortably to old age in a nice warm place with mouse lollipops and moonbeams, and occasionally are taken on these brief outdoor trips.
J R in WV
Fascinating~!!~
Years ago we visited Mountain Lake down in Virginia, and some folks from Va Tech (nearby Mountain Lake) were studying birds with big invisible black nets strung out to trap small songbirds. Much more my style than catching raptors like these. But great photos of a complex and delicate task, thanks so much!
Mountain Lake is an old fashioned get-away resort with a lake on a mountain top in Giles County, IIRC. Pretty high elevation (3,900 ft), lots of work done there by Virginia Tech students/professors.
dp
Great post.
JustRuss
Great post, love the release video. I think I spotted my first northern harrier yesterday, but he was gone before I could get my binoculars on him/her.
Albatrossity
@citizen dave: The mice live like rock stars, indeed. They are well taken care of!
Yutsano
BIRBS!!!
I was sitting here speculating about the education levels of the gentlemen you were working with there. Did some small research ( I have an appointment to get to so not a lot of time right now) and the only place I could find where you could get a master’s in raptor biology is still Boise State University. Which as an alum* has me quite chuffed.
*Yes I am a proud graduate of Washington State University. But I started at Boise State oh so long ago. Wonderful campus. Would not have been great for my queer awakening.
Albatrossity
@Yutsano: Indeed, Boise State is a great place for raptor research. Maybe not researchers so much these days; I see that there are a mask-burning protest in Boise over the weekend…
Cornell and KU have long been great places for ornithology in general, and I think we can expect good things from these two fine gentlemen in the future!
Laura Too
These are wonderful! I learn so much from your posts. I went to look at the pictures of the other hawks. The first one listed with a transmitter is Clarence-my beloved Uncle Schlimazel’s other nickname. A beautiful thought of him soaring free and providing data for a project. He would be very pleased.
Albatrossity
@MelissaM: I don’t know! But I have a long history of not paying attention to the footwear of others :-)
debbie
@Albatrossity:
The calm seems more threatening than the fury!