[obol] Benton County raptors, prairie Merlin, etc

From: Lars Per Norgren <larspernorgren@xxxxxxxxx>
To: obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Fri, 17 Oct 2014 07:26:26 -0700
    There was a young of the year White-tailed Kite at Prairie Overlook, Finley 
NWR 5pm 10/15. It came from the north and perched for five minutes on a large 
bush along Finley Road to the west of the overlook. I didn't see a Red-tailed 
Hawk for the first forty minutes I was there. An young of the year 
Red-shouldered Hawk was along Oak Creek north of the Campus Way bicycle path 
11am 10/16, that's just west of the covered bridge. Probably a county bird for 
me. 
    Vole numbers are clearly on the rise at part of Finley. The field between 
Bruce Road and the foot of Pigeon Butte had raptors and herons evenly spaced, 
perched on the ground. Reminiscent of the white clover field along Hwy 18 sw of 
Mac two years ago. I couldn't see the whole field, and left my scope at home, 
but there were nine birds visible at once last night from the overlook. In the 
field immediately east of McFadden Marsh there were six egrets and three herons 
in a tight group.
     I saw a prairie Merlin, no capitol on "prairie" mind you. Last Thursday 
10/9 a bird flew east past the observation deck during the last half hour of 
daylight. It wasn't that far away, but I was uncertain whether it was a Merlin 
or a Sharpshin. It was doing more gliding than flapping and flying 
head/shoulder high compared to me. It landed inside the crown of one of the ash 
trees to the east. A recent fire on the prairie burned off all the leaves of 
every tree and shrub, so it's a simple matter to fly in and out, as well as to 
scope such birds. Shortly after landing the raptor fluttered to the ground the 
way a kestrel often does when catching invertebrates. This seemed distinctly 
non-accipterlike to me. I could see a tail with black bands on a gray-brown 
background. I suppose a Sharpshin has fewer and broader bands on its tail than 
a Merlin. The bird clearly had a rounded end to its rather long tail. It moved 
from one small ash to another, always landing inside the crowns and flying less 
than a meter above the tops of the shrubs. Maybe twenty minutes later, in full 
dusk, it flew west again, quite close to the platform. I was again strongly 
tempted to call it a Sharpshin. Standing on the observation deck I was looking 
down on the bird's back as it passed.
    So a full week later, same time of day- near sunset- I see an identical 
looking bird flutter to the ground among the small burned ash trees. I had no 
scope, so walked over there. A non-birding couple was using the deck for a 
fairly vehement session of self-guided marriage counseling. If my ability to 
distinguish Falco from Accipiter seems alarmingly sketchy, it would appear 
quite robust relative to my talents as an abitrator of chagrins du coeur. The 
raptor returned to a perch inside one of the toasted trees, and was indeed a 
Merlin, a very dark one. I would guess it was catching grasshoppers, but there 
were dragonflies in evidence as well. Eventually it ended up near the top of 
another tree. I recall Dave Fix's statement,"If there's two birds in top of a 
tree, it's a safe bet that neither is a Merlin." Last night a flicker flew into 
the same tree and a foot or two at a time moved closer to the Merlin. It was 
maybe only three feet away from the Merlin when shots from the adjacent hunting 
club put both birds on the wing.
   Wednesday night I heard a Black-bellied Plover at the prairie.   Lars   

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[obol] Benton County raptors, prairie Merlin, etc

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