[mou] S. Minneapolis Merlins

[Terence Brashear]

Hi

Bruce sent me an email and let me know he had seen the
birds again.  I went back and met Bruce and his wife. 
Shortly afterward the birds appeared. We were able to
see one adult and three juveniles.  I saw one of the
youngsters attempt to catch a dragonfly, and go after
a Rock Pigeon.  Both hunting attempts were
unsuccessful.  One of the adults was harassing the
gulls on the lake and headed over towards the golf
course where we lost sight of it.  The birds appear to
like the spot originally posted by Bruce as a perch
and return to it often.

Here is an image of two of the juvies fighting for a
perch:

http://www.naturepixels.com/images/siblings_fight.jpg

Regards,

Terry

--- Bruce Fall <bafall@umn.edu> wrote:

> Since at least the end of July there have been 3
> juvenile Merlins in  
> the vicinity of 28th Ave. S and 44th St. E.,
> Minneapolis (Hennepin  
> Co.), just NE of L. Hiawatha. The parents are
> usually away hunting  
> but return regularly with prey to feed the young
> (House Sparrow  
> identified so far), and are greeted with loud
> calling. It's likely  
> they nested nearby--the young can fly but they are
> rather clumsy. The  
> 3 young spend much of their time perched
> conspicuously in the bare  
> top of a tall spruce on the E side of 28th Ave., 25
> yds. N of 44th  
> St. (stoplight). We've also seen them in another
> spruce S of 44th St.
> 
> Bruce A. Fall
> S. Minneapolis
> 


Terry Brashear
Hennepin County, MN
http://www.naturepixels.com
birdnird AT yahoo.com

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