Hi all,
New to me merlin behavior: I watched a male Am. Kestrel come boiling up out
of a cornfield with some sort of small rodent (on Rentenaar Rd. on
Sauvie's). While I was tracking him in my binos I suddenly got "bino
bombed" by a Merlin doing a decent jaeger impression with one feint; the
kestrel dropped the prey and the merlin, swift as you please, picked it off
in mid-air and made off with typically full powered flight.
Earlier we had a Tundrius ssp. peregrine on Reeder Rd.
There were gobs (thousands) of Snow Geese and good numbers (dozens) of
Tundra Swans---some swans were ~1000 meters off so I cannot rule out the
presence of some Trumpeters
One other Merlin, harriers, red-tails, and many Bald Eagles were fun as
were the big flocks of Sandhill Cranes and Mew gulls with some Ring-bills
for company.
good birding,
Tom
