Those young Merlins (4) have really been gettin' down (altitudinally) the past 2 days and likely will do so tomorrow and maybe the next day. They have been landing and sunning on roof tops, posing on telephone wires, sitting together on low branches, trying to climb up hanging sprigs of doug fir boughs, chasing each other all around and calling out aplenty (except for one that seems to have syringitis - it only gets out a soft, wispy call). This afternoon between 5 and 6:30 they were particularly active. and several times flew within feet of us watchers. No parent showed up. Tiffany said that yesterday she saw one juvenile pick up a cached bird and struggle to pluck and pick at the stiff carcass.

While gettin' down, they are also losing the last sprinkles of fledgling down - one youngster had none tonight, one had quite a bit and the other 2 had an inbetween smattering. They are starting to look a lot less pudgy - one was very thin this afternoon - it's hard when you have to catch or get your own food...

2 of us took some shots, but any good ones won't be posted for awhile - I'm way behind on my photos. I did get some excellent images from Ray White, taken on the Maple Leaf site during that group's "Juvie Circus", so I'll try to get them up on my Flickr site in the next day or 2. Last chance to watch them up close and try for some pictures of your own. The lighting was quite nice this afternoon - hoping for the same tomorrow afternoon/evening. You'll have to tell what it is like in the mornings if you go then. I can give you directions if you don't know where the site is.

Hope to see some of you over there tomorrow or Wed. sometime - if it's nice in the late afternoon/evening, we may have a few snacks to share Feel free to join in on what could very well be the final Seattle-area Merlin hoorah of the season.

Kee-kee-kee,


Barb Deihl, NML

North Matthews Beach - NE Seattle

barbdeihl at comcast.net