I didn't do a very good job of describing what I saw
(trying for brevity, which isn't my strong point) but
what I meant was that initially when the bird caught
my eye, since there were lots of crows there, I didn't
realize that it was a bird of prey until moments
before it grabbed the sparrow. As it flew back up
with the burden of its lunch, it was in different
light and flying more slowly and I had a good enough
look to know it wasn't a crow. What I was trying to
convey is that it was a bit of a surprise from, out of
the corner of the eye thinking yet another crow is
flying in, to realizing it is a totally different
situation! I've seen lots of kestrels but not that
many merlins so I always like to err on not sounding
so certain, but in thinking on it more, I can't think
of what else it could have been than a merlin, based
on size, shape, etc.
Thanks for the input

Danene Warnock
Bellevue, WA
northwestmom at yahoo.com


=====

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Bid and sell for free at http://auctions.yahoo.com