Hey Tweets...re: Roland's post about downtown Seattle merlins, when I
became aware of birds in the city I worked in downtown L.A. and drove
all over the whole metro area...one big city environment. I often
stopped to eat my lunch in a park on Wilshire Blvd., an area known as
the "Miracle Mile". It is more famous/infamous as the home of the La
Brea Tar Pits.

That's where I saw my first merlin; it flew in and perched on some of
the papyrus growing inside the fenced area containing the mammoth
statues. While I watched the falcon, another movement revealed an
American Bittern standing on a bed of dried rushes, also within the
fenced area.

It was a bit surreal seeing these two birds sharing space with a nasty,
oily pit of tar 50 feet from Wilshire Blvd. But the place is lousy with
house sparrows for the merlin, and the bittern...well, I hate to think
what it eats (oily frogs?).

That park is also home to the L.A. County Museum of Art.

Dianna Moore

Ocean Shores