>they're *noisy* little blighters!).

Yes. When captured for banding, they sometimes call constantly until banded
and released, it's really annoying. Then, as I mentioned, they'll go
perch nearby and preen like crazy, totally ignoring their tormentor
from moments before.

> A few years ago, a male 'Black' Merlin wintered in the neighborhood of
> high-rises near the edge of Stanley Park, preying on starlings and the odd
> pigeon. For a few weeks, I was always finding starlings lying face-down on
> the sidewalk with large holes in the backs of their skulls, like there was a
> birding gang-war going on. Found out that when they don't have to work too
> hard for prey, Merlins will often pop a bird just for its brain, the richest
> source of complex protein matter in a bird's body. Picky, picky.

Tiny, tiny! Must take a lot of starlings.

Visiting other raptor banders in San Francisco one year, someone came in
with a headless warbler for help identifying it (it was a townsend's).
A merlin had flown into a mist net with the warbler sans head in its
talons, and they had to take it away from the little bugger to id it.
It didn't want to let go...

> Sorry if I missd this in a previous posting, but would a Merlin feed on a
> pigeon on the ground where it has fallen, or does it have the strength (I'm
> assuming a female: I don't think the males have the size) to lug it up to a
> rooftop or suchlike?

No way it can carry a 1-lb+ pigeon! A female merlin weighs about five-six
ounces.

It might be able to kind of steer it
on the way down. Birds of prey will take stuff they can't fly off with.
I've seen footage of a golden eagle taking wild goat kids in the Alps,
delivering them to their chicks in the nest. They stoop down, nail a
kid, and sort of parachute it to the nest as they can't fly/maintain elevation
with such a heavy load. But they can steer on the way down, letting go
when they pass a couple of feet over the nest. Very impressive. Of course,
they're limited to goats at a higher elevation than the nest, something
apparently the goats don't figure out.


- Don Baccus, Portland OR <donb at rational.com>
Nature photos, on-line guides, at (NEW) http://donb.photo.net