Recognized shape, flight style, size and activity (chasing a passerine). Then, when a crow appeared on the scene and loudly went after the hunting bird, my sighting of a Merlin was confirmed. Kee-kee-kee !!! (that's me, not the Merlin - it was silent!) Crow drove Merlin off to the SW from where I had first spotted the raptor on my street, at around 11 a.m. It was silhouetted and I had no optics with me, so color and markings weren't possible for ID-ing, putting me off that hook, so no quiz-bird like the recent plover !

That reminds me to thank Connie Sidles for that information and the little color test she posted yesterday. Since color is a major joy in life for me, I right away took the color test and discovered my own fallibilities for this time in my life - a score of "7" showed me I'm not the "Color Queen" I thought I was. Think I'll try it again today and see what difference a day makes or whether or not I can fool my "lying eyes". I think that plover exercise brought up what most of us have sensed or known for awhile - we all sense color differently and lighting can really change what we see, so colors are often not the final word in bird identification.

Now, off to capturing more colorful fall- and fallen-leaf images with my camera. Sure perks up these drippy days...


Barb Deihl

North Matthews Beach - NE Seattle

barbdeihl at comcast.net