So, I was at my Grandma's house yesterday just sitting and visiting with her, Mom, and my aunt and my aunt noticed a bird sitting in the tree that my Grandma has all of her birdfeeders hanging from. So, I got up and took a look and I said, "That's a falcon of some sort." I thought it was a kestrel because they're all over the place in Elk Ridge, but Mom grabbed Grandma's bird book and some binoculars and we took a closer look. Here's what it looked like (the picture is from the internet, of course)
Does anyone know what this birdy is? Anyone? Anyone have a guess?
Rupert I already hinted it was a falcon. It's beak and body is completely wrong to be a duck. And it's too big to be a sparrow. Go take a bath!
Sheesh, some goats. Anywho, becuase I can see you're all biting your nails in confusion and excitement I'll tell you. This here, and that bird sitting in my Grandma's yard, is a Merlin. Falco columbias. What's cool is that you don't see them a lot here in Utah. They are migratory birds, but will sometimes take up winter residence in some places. Apparently that female merlin (the males have blue-gray wings) decided that Grandma's house is an excellent place to hold out for the winter. And boy does she take advantage of those bird feeders! I think this was the same bird that I saw at Christmas time. That time, I actually saw this she-merlin catch a bird and start eating it.
Grandma wasn't so happy about that, but I thought it was cool. Nature in action! And a merlin!! AWESOME!!!
2 comments:
and the fact that Merlin is a freakin' awesome name has nothing to do with the it...
Wow, that's really cool!
:D
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