After a visit to Cape May about 15 years ago, I was so impressed with the erratic, wild, and seemingly chaotic flights of Merlins (seen on a boat ride at a half-mile distance chasing pigeons on an electric line) that I decided to give my wife Mimi a birthday gift - a banded Merlin via the Cape May banding project.  Her gift has been prophetic.  Again this morning (12/27/03) Mimi saw a Merlin in our yard.  Hearing a crash (terrified bird crashing into feeder?) and a squawking flight of blue jays, she looked out to see flying feathers, and none of the usual feeder birds in sight.…for us the usual indication of another Merlin visit.  This one, however, lit on the ground under our Heritage birch (which has been a favorite perch on former visits) about ten feet from our breakfast window and gave us a close 20 minute look at what was certainly a fluffy juvenile female who had missed its prey and seemed to be recovering from still another disappointment.

This was a new visitor, unlike the others (probably females) which we have seen in nearly the same spot (usually IN the tree).  She had a dark brown back, with a dozen or so white feathers poking through, the usual yellow eye ring and yellow at the top of a small hooked bill, a light streak above the eye surrounded by browner feathers.   Her chest was light brown and white, mottled, streaked below, with a white belly, tail banded in broad stripes, orange-yellow feet with black nails (mini-talons).  She acted like a young bird (it's hard to describe but Mimi and I have seen juveniles and they act naive and a bit puzzled), standing stock still, occasionally rotating her head to watch a few incautious chickadees, sometimes fluffing and preening.  She eventually flew off in a low trajectory showing pointed wings and intent purpose.

Perhaps our feeders are understood as Merlin feeders!  We wondered whether our land which slopes south, lies in a mile-long uninhabited valley (former farmland), and is largely open with a ten-acre swamp and lake across the road, has become a breeding site.  We have had a number of such visits -- one was reported in November -- but this is the first certain juvenile we have seen.  We have often seen Kestrels, Bluebirds, Turkeys, Kingfishers, Woodpeckers (all varieties) and, over the years, a Shrike, Golden Eagle, and occasional Ospreys diving into the lake.  We are here weekends and would welcome a birding group if Waterman could provide a leader.

Editor's Note:  The yard where the Merlin is being seen is in Pine Plains.