Golfcourse Merlin
Howard Youth (hmyouth@erols.com)
Sun, 24 Jan 1999 16:32:26 -0500
While covering Layhill Park and environs for the Montgomery County
Mid-winter Bird Count, I stopped by the pond at NW Branch Golf Course.
Nothing but 45 Canada geese. As I returned to my car, on a lark (pardon the
pun), I decided to take a short, soggy trail to view the greens and
adjacent trees. About 20 yards down the path, I saw a falcon in the top of
a tree at the edge of the greens. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to
be a male merlin. It preened and took off toward the golf center (roughly
northeast). Saw it about 12:50.
To get to the merlin spot, park in the right-hand parking lot (just past
the pond, which is on the left, and before the golf center, which is up a
slight rise above the lot). The 20-yard-long (or so) path leads from the
bottom edge of the parking lot (corner closest to Layhill Rd.) to the
greens. I was looking south toward Layhill Park and saw the merlin in the
top of the tallest tree directly across the greens from the soggy path.
Howard Youth
hmyouth@erols.com