Hello tweets,
A few years ago, a brown Merlin lived in downtown Olympia for one
winter, making its regular diet the pigeons who lived there. A friend
and I happened upon this Merlin just after it had brought down a pigeon.
It was on the sidewalk of 5th avenue- a busy street! plucking away and
gouging out bits of breast meat. It seemed pretty tame and there was some
suspicion that it might have been a falconer's bird at some point, though
there were no jesses, bands, etc to point to that conclusion. So yes,
Merlins can and do take pigeons.
Janet Partlow
partlowj at elwha.evergreen.edu

On Fri, 7 Mar 1997, Patrick, Michael wrote:

> Peggi,
>
> The first Merlin I ever saw was hot on the tail of a pigeon, at
> dawn. They quickly disappeared over the bluff I was near.
>
> Now I would find it hard to believe that a Merlin will take a
> pigeon. But I have read, I think it's in the Stoke's field guide,
> that Merlins are "aggressive" to birds flying by. Maybe just
> checking out the menu? Morning exercise? Hired by the city
> to harass the pigeons??
>
> Michael Patrick
> (206) 743-8204
> mpatrick at eldec.com
>
> >
>