All this talk about sharpies leads me to ask if anyone else out there has
a difficult time determining for sure if they're looking at a sharpie or a
merlin. Last week one or the other was perched on a telephone pole at the
southeast entry into University Village. It was brown with heavy brownish
breast streaking/spots (not reddish brown). It seemed to be eyeing a
bunch of pigeons sitting on nearby wires. My National Geographic guide
left me still wondering if it may have been an immature female sharpie or
perhaps a female merlin. To my untrained eye, they seem quite similar.

wjansen