Afternoon all,
Not many new birds around here yet, other than my FOY Brown Thrashers over the weekend, and again in the yard today, singing. Nice to hear them again. My best bird today was about 10:30 when I stepped outside for some fresh air, and had my bins on and my sunglasses also, to cut the glare. First I watched several Black Vultures soaring over the area, then a pair of Red-tailed Hawks was soaring overhead, slowly circling and moving around. Then one of the pair of Cooper's Hawks did a big circle, frequently looking around below it for something to catch. Then, about 10:35 I spied a high-flying "hawk", circling above the shop. I watched it until it faded away heading north, and saw its long tapered pointed wings, light underparts and dark outer half of its tail, looking falcon-like, but too small for a Peregrine, and not right for Kestrel. It was dark on the underside of its wings, and was being buffetted by the wind a bit, but continued its circling as it moved off. Merlin.
This was my 4th yard record here, and my 3rd spring record (though 2 were the same bird, on consecutive days, 3/31/11 and 4/1/11). Other dates were 10/2/09, 10/9/09, 10/24/10, 10/3/12, and now 4/15/13.
Cool!
Rick Sussman
Woodbine,MD
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