Yes, plus this - "A Merlin is to a Kestrel what a Harley-Davidson
motorcycle is to a scooter." Sibley & Sutton, Hawks in Flight, p. 84

Jack Kintner kintner at nas.com Blaine, WA

At 10:32 AM 3/20/01 -0800, you wrote:

>I have always found it interesting that the original name for the Merlin
>was Pigeon Hawk.
>
>Here is the prey list from A. C. Bent's account of the Merlin.
>
>Food: T he pigeon hawk is mainly a bird eater. Dr. A. K. Fisher's (189Th)
>report on the contents of 56 stomachs says that 2 contained poultry, 41
> small birds, 2 mice, and 16 insects. The following birds
>have been recorded in its food: Leach's petrel, green-winged teal,
>woodcock, snipe,
> sandpipers, Eskimo curlew, plovers, small domestic
>chickens, California quail, ptarmigans, pigeons, doves, chimney and black
>swifts, flickers, jays,
> bobolink, meadowlark, blackbirds, gracldes, various
>sparrows, waxwings, swallows, warblers, vireos, gnatcatchers, brown
>creeper, nuthatches,
> kinglets, pipit, robin, and thrushes. Other things listed
>include pocket gophers, squirrels, mice, bats, toads, lizards, snakes,
>dragonflies, butterflies,
> moths, grasshoppers, crickets, beetles, spiders,
>crawflshes, scorpions, and caterpillars. That this little falcon is able to
>catch such rapid fliers as
> swifts and swallows, or such nimble insects as
>dragonflies, speaks well for its powers of flight.
>
>Jim
>
>Jim Rosso
>jrosso at mediaseek.com
>MediaSeek Technologies a division of bigchalk.com
>Bellevue, Washington
>425- 451-1111 ext. 139
>
>
>
>
> Deborah
>
> Wisti-Peterson To:
> <tweeters at u.washington.edu>, Deborah Wisti-Peterson
> <nyneve at u.washington.
> <nyneve at u.washington.edu>
> edu> cc:
>
> Sent by: Subject: interesting
> way to start the day -- unless you're the pigeon
> TWEETERS-owner at u.wash
>
> ington.edu
>
>
>
>
>
> 03/20/01 10:20
> AM
>
> Please respond
> to
>
> nyneve
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>hello tweets,
>
>this morning, i had the good fortune to see quite a spectacle as i
>approached my building on campus. i arrived just after a merlin had
>successfully brought down a pigeon, which was fat and slow from food
>supplied by my lab.
>
>all hell broke loose as the merlin perched in a nearby tree, crows
>flying around, shrieking, and about a dozen chickadees standing on
>the very tippy-tops of fir trees, shouting "DEE DEE DEE DEE!" the
>merlin made a faint "tittering" call as i stood under the tree,
>looking up at the chocolate-brown merlin from a mere 15-20 feet away.
>the crows seemed intimidated by my close presence and left to sit on
>the roof of the next-door building, where they continued shrieking in
>raucous voices.
>
>there was fresh blood on the sidewalk and the dead pigeon was pushed
>into the bushes near the loading dock, where i hope the merlin can find
>it (before the crows do). it was really impressive to see how much
>bigger the pigeon was than the merlin.
>
>has anyone ever seen a merlin take prey so large?
>
>regards,
>
> Deborah Wisti-Peterson, PhD Candidate nyneve at u.washington.edu
>Department of Zoology, University of Washington, Seattle, Wash, USA
> Visit me on the web: http://students.washington.edu/~nyneve/
> Love the creator? Then protect the creation.