Under the leadership of K.E.ST.R.E.L. board member, Earl Hodnett, volunteers banded and released 871 hawks between mid-September and November 26, 1995. This was an almost 40 percent increase over 1994. This increase reflects the increased effort possible because of additional volunteers and also parallels reports of increased raptor activity elsewhere on the east coast in the fall of 1995.Here are the numbers of hawks banded and released by species.
Species Totals American kestrel 19 Cooper's hawk 241 Merlin 134 Northern goshawk 2 Northern harrier 31 Peregrine falcon 15 Red-shouldered hawk 1 Red-tailed hawk 79 Sharp-shinned hawk 349 TOTAL 871 Highlights of the raptor banding were eighteen birds that were captured at Kiptopeke after being banded elsewhere. A number of these were birds that had been banded at Cape May or Assateague island a day to a week earlier. One re-trap, a Red-tailed hawk, had also been banded at Cape May, but seventeen years earlier on October 27, 1979.
In hawk banding, as in fishing, it's the ones that get away that make the best stories and one of these would have been a station record for the best non-raptor: a Virginia rail. Another "one that got away" would have been a first-ever capture of a Golden Eagle. This is the bander's description:
"I ran toward the eagle as it scrambled beneath the net. As I closed the distance to about 20 feet, I saw his beak come out from under the bow net's frame. Using it like a lever, he lifted up the net and rushed out. With a victorious glance over his shoulder, he was on his way."
This fall, Earl and his colleagues will begin collecting information to address a new research question. By applying very lightweight colored streamers to banded raptors' tails corresponding to the banding dates, we can use later observations of raptors flying to learn how long hawks stay at Kiptopeke. This is a start on the more fundamental questions about this area's importance as a stopover habitat for migrating hawks.
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