On a hunch, and taking advantage of the mild weather, I hied meself out to "the landing"
with my new Sony digital camera w/1.7 teleconverter in search of the resident female
Merlin. Success; plus, she now has a boyfriend. Was able to capture both in a couple
of shots and each individually in a series of others. Since the lakes were frozen over, the
only open water was below the spillway, where about 30 Mallards and 5 Hooded Mer-
gansers were noted.

Paul Noell
Balto. MD