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Help with ID please

Discussion

5 replies
Posted by Lindy Martin on August 1, 2011 at 7:33 AM
Help with ID please
Way too far away for this lens and not a great shot. Any ideas on these three youngsters? THey are small, live in the 1000 Islands area. My first thought was kestrel but after looking through binoculars, could be merlins or coopers, red tails. I did not get a good look at the parents -

Thanks in advance
Posted by Jim DeWitt on August 1, 2011 at 2:59 PM
Merlins would be my guess. No white on the neck, so I'd rule out Kestrels. Strong dark "eyebrow" is consistent with Merlin. And the impression is falcon, not accipiter or buteo. I could easily be wrong; there's not a lot to go on.
Posted by Matt Shellenberg on August 1, 2011 at 6:45 PM
Not a lot of detail to go by, but they sure resemble a juvenile red-shouldered hawk. That would be pretty far north for them. But certainly possible.
Posted by Nate Chappell on August 2, 2011 at 10:50 AM
They look like Merlins to me Lindy.
Posted by David Graham on August 5, 2011 at 10:33 AM
For a day or two post-fledging it is typical of young merlins to sit side-by-side in this manner near the nest, and while so sitting are incredibly tolerant of close approach by the interested birder....much like archetypal "fool hen" grouse. And the adults, which would have pitched a real hissy fit at human approach while eggs or young were on the nest are generally likewise sanguine with human approach toward their young so perched. This behavior I just described I've observed with three broods of Richardson's (prairie) merlins, so am interested to see the same practiced by a brood of the darker morph as well.

Dave Graham, East River, South Dakota
Posted by David Graham on August 5, 2011 at 10:34 AM
For a day or two post-fledging it is typical of young merlins to sit side-by-side in this manner near the nest, and while so sitting are incredibly tolerant of close approach by the interested birder....much like archetypal "fool hen" grouse. And the adults, which would have pitched a real hissy fit at human approach while eggs or young were on the nest are generally likewise sanguine with human approach toward their young so perched. This behavior I just described I've observed with three broods of Richardson's (prairie) merlins, so am interested to see the same practiced by a brood of the darker morph as well.

Dave Graham, East River, South Dakota