[MDOsprey] Merlin at Layhill Park
Howard Youth (hmyouth@erols.com)
Fri, 10 Sep 1999 13:44:37 -0400
I birded Layhill Park from around 8:20 to 11 this a.m. Met fellow Ospreyer
Joe Halpin along the way.It was a VERY slow a.m., but on the way out,
around 10:15, cloud cover thinned and I saw a small mixed flock containing
one pewee, two gnatcatchers, a few chickadees, a pair of nuthatches, a male
black-throated blue warbler, an immature magnolia warbler, several
white-eyed vireos, a northern parula warbler, a red-eyed vireo, a
black-and-white warbler, and an immature redstart. Just as I was finishing
perusing the flock, a merlin shot past. It settled in a dead tree and tore
into a small bird it had in its talons. Three jays and a flicker eventually
harrassed it into flying off.
Howard Youth
Rockville, MD
hmyouth@erols.com