FreeLists / bristol-birds / [Bristol-Birds] A few reflections on the Merlins at Kingsport

["Wallace Coffey" <jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Perhaps I've had my head in the sand for a few winters with this Merlin thing 
going on in Kingsport.  

During the past couple of years we've read and watched Rick Phillip's amazing 
predictability with these small falcons.  Even more amazing have been his
excellent photos and video.

Today I went to the Oak Hill Cemetery around noon.  It was time to sit and 
think on site.  
As anticipated, the Merlin was not there.  I didn't go to see this bird.  It 
would have been fun. 
I haven't seen the cemetery birds.  Been to a few funerals there.

Merlins have been known to winter at Kingsport at least as far back as the 
winter of 1989-90  Several times the species has been reported on the Kingsport
Christmas bird count.  On several counts two Merlins were reported.

A couple of thoughts might be worth sharing:

    1.  The extensive number of 50-feet high spruce trees in the cemetery.  Is 
this the 
largest concentration of such tall, mature, spruce growing in the lower 
elevations and 
especially in an urban environment in this region ?

    2.  Stonewall Jackson Elementary School.  I think this is the same school 
yard next
to Violet Larkin's home where she had Merlins wintering each winter for four or 
five
years during the late 80's and early 90's.  Most winters the Merlin would visit 
the playground
and hunt there almost daily.  I particularly remember her telling us at Mendota 
lookout
that a Merlin flew into the glass of the sliding door at her home one winter 
and was killed.  I 
think these wintering birds were the source of at least one or more Merlins 
reported 
on those Christmas counts.

Oak Hill Cemetery is just a thousand feet north of the school.  A tall and 
extra large
American flag blows in the wind from a hilltop in the cemetery.  The same flag 
waves
prominently above the Jackson school playground, just over that same hill and 
across 
the busy four-lane roadway.

So history suggests this area along West Stone Drive has had a sustainable food 
supply
and habitat for winter hunting by the Merlin. Maybe the small
falcons don't spend much time on the school property these day.  The trees have 
mature more
in nearly two decades.  Does anyone know where they regularly hunt ?  There is 
a worthy
endeavor for keen eyes.

The tall spruce now provide what is probably the regular roosting site for the
species.  Would we be surprised if they have for all these years ?   Few people 
enter
any cemetery after sundown.  The spruce are sheltered between hillsides and
birds roosting there have little disturbance, night and day.

So what might we take from this ?  How about a few of these thoughts for 
starters:

    --  They have been wintering here for at least the better part of 18 years.

    --  The food supply has been reasonably stable each year.  For prey, these
         bird-adapted predators take small to medium birds with House Sparrows
         utilized significantly in some situations.

    --  The spruce trees are mature, tall and extensive.  Maybe unrivaled in 
the region.
         Are these tall spruce suggestive of the coniferous forest Merlin 
frequent
         on their breeding range from the northern most Great Lakes north to 
the tundra ? 

    --  Roosting Merlins in urban areas are well documented.  In Kingsport the 
roost
        site is safe, protected and secure.  The food supply supportive.

A challenge remains:  if someone actually knows of a specific roost tree, look 
for
a few pellets on the ground and maybe one of our young and talented student 
biologist will determine a few prey species.

Rick Phillips has continued the awareness that Violet Larkins, her son George 
Larkins
and his former wife Suzanne Larkins well first provided us beginning many 
winters ago.

Thanks Rick !

Let's go birding.....

Wallace Coffey
Bristol, TN