Several times over the past few weeks, there has been a Merlin flying about and
perching in snags around the barns. Over the weekend, I was able to get a few
decent photos of the bird including a couple of it diving at my local kestrel
pair. The Merlin and kestrels take turns harassing each other, most of it
seemingly in a playful manner. Yesterday, the male kestrel and the Merlin (sort
of small so I'm suspecting a young male) sat on the same snag for well over an
hour, just scanning their surroundings and preening. I guess they have become
resigned to the fact that neither is going to be dissuaded from hanging out on
territory ... at least for now.
On Saturday, I had a flock of 75-80 Sandhills pass right overhead. At the same
time I was busy trying to get a few photos of the Merlin so I quit watching the
cranes as they completed their kettling and headed off in V's to the south. A
couple of minutes later I heard cranes calling to the southeast and thought it
was a different flock. However, these 35-40 birds were booking due east,
something that is quite unusual, of course. I scanned back with binocs to see
if the other birds were still disappearing to the south and I noticed a Bald
Eagle plodding along in horizontal flapping flight heading southeastish. The
eagle had apparently split the migrant flock of cranes into two groups! This
was probably not an offensive move on the part of the eagle; I imagine it
simply intersected the flight path of the migrant cranes by chance. However,
cranes do *not* like eagles, and they were giving it some space! After a minute
or so, the eastbound cranes turned and resumed a southbound course, apparently
secure in the belief that the eagle had gone on its way!
Merlin pics at this Flickr album:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/70381922@N08/albums/72157712136511401
bpb, Louisville
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