I went in search of the redpolls again today - I hadn’t seen them since the snowfall January 19. First I turned up 5 American Robins in the spot on Tucker Road where Rachel Lodder and I have seen the redpolls before, and was going to be happy with that, but when I returned maybe a half hour later there were at least 18 redpolls perched in the scrubby little apple tree near the south end of Tucker (east side). They were feeding on the weeds under the tree, and twittering, when a falcon burst through the tree without catching anybody, and then perched in the top of a tall spruce on the other side of Tucker. The redpolls froze, and were silent and still. I could only make out the wing shape of the falcon - no color. Fifteen minutes later, as I walked down Aiken, I heard the redpolls again, and saw the flock dive into more spruces, followed by the falcon again. This time I did see the tail was clearly striped. The falcon was again unsuccessful, and perched in the top of one of the spruces. I think it was a merlin, but could be talked out of it. Very very bad photos are here
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/rne7i981ieudsjv/AABx23nZZVx-Hd6z4btqtA0Ka?dl=0 which clearly show there is something in the top of that tree! -- 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/ --
