First time using the list, so forgive any breaches in protocol. Took a few days to figure it out, but a merlin has been frequenting the neighborhood for at least several days, loves to use the bare top of our neighbor's diseased spruce tree as a perch (about 4 blocks from the Lake St./Marshall Ave. bridge). First time I saw it in the distance I thought it was a peregrine from the silhouette. But now I've seen it several times up close-- makes a LOT of noise, same pitch as a peregrine, but rapid-fire. Last night when coming home walking the dog, I heard it screeching from the top of the tree, then heard another off in the distance, it flew in and briefly mounted the female (I assume) on the tree. Is this a sign they will be setting up shop in the neighborhood, or will they mate even before they are done migrating?
Todd Starich ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
