We first spotted him soring above an industrial park area. Through the binoculars we saw that it was a passage bird.

As we were watching to see where it would go...it dropped into a stoop and disappeared behind a building. We drove around looking for it and eventually spotted it in a dead tree about 50 yards away and only about 20 ft off the ground. We walked the trap out and walked back to the vehicle and drove slowly away. We watched for a few minutes at a distance and realized that the bird didn't really have a direct line of sight to the trap. So we decided to go back to the trap and carry it closer and to an area more visible to him.

We walk the trap out again and as soon as the trap hit the ground the bird was on his way. He hit the trap before we were half way back to the car. He danced around on the trap and it was quickly clear that we had him...



Male Passage Redtail

Off the trap he weighed 985g.





We took a few pictures and sent him on his way. We were on the look-out for something a little bigger...