Kathleen Hunt wrote about the dead merlin she found in Wallingford on Saturday
(bummer) and asked
>how many small falcons are there in Seattle
>anyway? Could this have been Wallingford's only merlin?

I spend some time looking for falcons (mostly peregrines) around Seattle. In
the past three months I have regularly seen merlins in four locations along my
peregrine search route. At the I-5 Ship Canal bridge, often on lamp posts
along the upper deck. At the Aurora Bridge, also on lamp posts along the
bridge deck. At the Grain Terminal, Pier 91 area. At Green Lake, usually along
Aurora or near the island. I can't tell whether they are one and the same
individual, I must cofess I haven't spent the same amount of time
familiarizing myself with individual birds' field marks as I have with
peregrines.
However, if the peregrine experience is any indication, there could easily be
four merlins around town.
If you listen to the Falcon Research Group hotline (206/6544423) regularly you
already know we have at least eight reported peregrines in town. This is an
absolute minimum. In December Ed Deal and I led a field trip looking for
falcons around town and we encountered an escaped falconry bird wearing jesses
in the West Seattle Freeway area. Today I was told a bird fitting that
description was seen at the Grain Terminal last week. Several weeks ago an
immature was found dead on Queen Anne, a place I don't look regularly for
peregrines. The bird could be the same one I saw one time last October at the
Grain Terminal (no the bird was not banded but had some very distinctive head
markings). If so, these two birds have managed to elude me for four months.
This just to indicate that with all the looking we do we're just scratching
the surface.
In short four merlins in the Green Lake/Wallingford/Ballard/Interbay/Myrtle
Edwards Park area is my contribution to the answer to Kathleen's question.
Although the dead bird could easily mean it's three birds now.

Martin Muller
Seattle, WA
MartinMuller at msn.com