Hi John At least one Merlin has returned to the Northeast Ithaca neighborhood. I say “at least” one because there is a male perching regularly on the large sycamore at the north end of Muriel St. (and calling in that area) and one seen regularly (by Brad) flying around and calling on Birchwood Dr. I live about halfway between these areas on Tareyton and also see/hear one regularly flying over— so we don’t know if this represents 1 or 2 birds.
Interestingly there was a pair of Merlins (one noticeably larger) perched and calling in the Muriel sycamore on a warm day in February— so they may have been winteri g locally. KEN Sent from my iPhone On Mar 25, 2021, at 6:18 PM, Karen <confergoldw...@aol.com> wrote: I love Merlins and Merlin reports and people who send in Merlin reports[Heart Eyes]. I check them all out. . Thanks to such reports, I have observed an increasing number of incubated nests in Tompkins County as follows: 2 (2014), 6 (2015), 6 (2016), 5 (2017), 3 (2018), 6 (2019), 9 (2020). These include pairs in Trumansburg, Lansing, Dryden, Freeville, Etna, and Ithaca (plus hints of a pair in Groton). Local observers provided guidance to almost all of these. I have written one paper on this, and am trying to write a more complete paper including habitat choice. Interestingly, all nests have been in urban/suburban areas. None in forests nor edge of forest nor edge of lake. Merlins start egg-laying in early May. Observations in late March are helpful by providing a hint about where they may finally nest. For instance, the pair observed by so many at Myer's Pint never nested there. Weeks after being seen at Myer's Point, there was a pair about 800 m east closer to the Catholic church. I would love to have individuals provide me with their observations at confergoldw...@aol.com Thanks, John -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME> Rules and Information<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES> Subscribe, Configuration and Leave<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> Archives: The Mail Archive<http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html> Surfbirds<http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds> BirdingOnThe.Net<http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html> Please submit your observations to eBird<http://ebird.org/content/ebird/>! -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
