Some of us avid Merlin-watchers have been following the adventures of the nesting pair of N. Seattle Merlins this breeding season - it was a rather quick step from branching to fledging of the 5 Merlinettes yesterday - branching was a one-day affair (that we saw), so many of us thought we had a couple/few days to relax before the big launch day/s. SURPRISE! Suddenly a couple of them got in line on a favorite branch outside the nest, got into position, leaned over and off they went toward trees to the west, one a few minutes after the first. Then a couple more lined up and soon did the same. We did, a bit later, confirm that the fifth young bird had also taken its first flight. After their mom and dad called to them, all of the fledgers returned to the nest for food. They likely had a good sleep last night after the workout of the day. So did I !

The 2 watchers who were there at the time got quite a show and one, Mike Hamilton, a great wildlife photographer, captured the events of the day with his camera and scope and got some marvelous shots. He also got images of the adult male Merlin chasing an immature Bald Eagle way up in the sky over the nestsite. I'll look into the possibility of making some of his shots available to be seen by interested Tweets. Marianne was the other Merlin watcher at the site when fledging occurred - she said watching the process certainly eclipsed other events of her week - in 2008, Marianne was lucky enough to see the first of that year's 5 Merlin chicks fledge, and has come to the sites selected by this veteran Merlin pair (Spike and Thor) for the 5 years they have been nesting in the area. Mike has been one of several site photographers for three years now. This is tough photography, to which many of the experts will attest, but we certainly welcome any other photogs to try a hand at this worthwhile challenge! Every now and then, you get lucky, like Mike did. A few nights ago, another photographer, Tom, managed to get some impressive shots of the adult Merlins in flight.

If, in the next couple of weeks, any of you are interested in visiting the site and watching the flight and hunting practice,and play of the young fledglings, they should still be around the nestsite and general neighborhood for a few more weeks. By now, the neighbors are aware of what's going on and are becoming nearly as enthused as us bird types with our optical glass - at least they now know we aren't watching planets eclipse the sun! If you want to know where this is happening, you can contact me and I'll give you the location. And as soon as I talk with Mike about sharing his photos, I'll let you all know if and where you can view them. I will also compile more Merlin photosets on my Flickr acct. - there are a few there already.

Kee-kee-kee! 'Tis the season... :-)


Barb Deihl, NML (Neighborhood Merlin Liaison - for some Seattle neighborhoods)

North Matthews Beach - NE Seattle

barbdeihl at comcast.net