There was a chaos of birds at my feeder this morning as I sat down with my
breakfast. (My feeder is in view from my kitchen table). Lots of action,
birds flying, birds battling, seed spilling....The usual morning feed. As I
ate and watched the birds, a blur moved from the shadows. A Merlin. It
neatly tipped vertical and snatched a junco out of mid-air, then cruised
across the lawn to the confines of a bushy cedar. There was a puff of
feathers that slowly drifted to the ground, and in a heartbeat the busy
scene at the feeder was abandoned. No, not quite, a junco on the ground was
left behind looking around as if saying....where did everybody go? I
thought this bird would join its comrades hidden somewhere in the bushes,
but instead it jumped up to the feeder and ate and ate until it was full.
After a good 15 minutes the first tentative and very jumpy chickadees
returned and within a few minutes the feeder action went back to its
previous levels. I noticed that none of the larger birds, the towhees or
Varied Thrushes returned.

This is the first year I have seen a Merlin here, I hope it likes what it
finds.

Rob Sandelin
Naturalist, Writer
Snohomish County