Is it a tad early for urban Merlins?

As I walked to my bus stop in north Tacoma this morning,
a Merlin flashed overhead, trailed by a handful of
protesting swallows. Last week at about the same time,
this same Merlin (or its doppelganger) had also streaked
by.

Merlins regularly winter in my north Tacoma neighborhood,
but they usually show up in October.

So is this morning's Merlin jumping the gun a little?

--cheers, Jim Lyles, Tacoma
<jrlyles at usgs.gov> or <jrlyles at eskimo.com>