Late Thursday afternoon (9/17) a merlin spent an hour entertaining several of us as it hunted dragonflies from perches on the north side of the Edmonds marsh near the boardwalk. I did not get any good flight photos as the bird was too fast and too close to us. Neither our presence nor the sounds of Amtrak's?Empire Builder?passing under a telephone pole it was perched on appeared to bother it.?
Scroll down page 52 for photos and narrative:Wildlife of Edmonds, WA. 2015 - Page 52

Thursday's merlin appeared lighter than the merlins we photographed at the marsh in August, starting on page 45:?
http://www.pnwphotos.com/forum/showt...WA-2015/page45

According to my bird books, there are several color variations among merlins. Hopefully the raptor experts on Tweeters will compare the photos and shed some light on the birds.?
Bill Anderson; Edmonds, WA. USA