The crows have gotten a lot quieter now that the young have been out of their nest for a few weeks, but for the past few days we’ve been enjoying watching our newest noisy neighbours, a family of merlins. These small falcons are sleek, graceful flyers with loud high-pitched repeating calls (something like klee! klee! klee! klee!). Like the crows when they had new fledglings out, the merlins seem to be most active (and vocal) in the early morning and right before dark.
(catching the last rays of the setting sun in the top of our neighbour’s cedar tree– also the best neighbourhood lookout spot)
Tags: merlins
wild ink 
July 23, 2008 at 11:36 pm |
what an amazing photo with the sun catching their plumage like that! I love watching birds of prey.
August 5, 2008 at 9:25 pm |
I’ve never seen crows bathing in a fountain, but the words “splashing sunlight” create a vivid picture. Also, I like the way they sound together, like splashing. Ever since I started blogging (two days ago!), I’ve been searching for a blogger with a voice that I can relate to…I’ll keep coming back for more 🙂
August 5, 2008 at 11:38 pm |
Thanks both of you! And to anyone else reading this, I urge you to check out the poetic and insightful voices of Lillian and Crafty Green Poet.
August 6, 2008 at 9:42 pm |
Thank you!
July 3, 2009 at 3:22 pm |
JUly 2009 update: the merlins are back! Unfortunately, the dead top of the cedar tree, which made a perfect perch (and perfectly located for us to see anyone perching there), has been trimmed, so the merlins haven’t been showing themselves to us as well this year. But maybe once the fledglings are out of the nest…