Merlins taking flight in Northumberland 2015

Nature Notes for July 31, 2015

“Ki-ki-ki-kee” sounded from outside my back window. The 2015 hatch of young Merlins have taken flight. Although they could be heard on a number of occasions in the west end of Port Hope, I never did find the nest this year.

Merlins are a small falcon, about the same size as an American Kestrel, but a bit bulkier. As with most birds of prey, the females are bigger than the males. Adult male Merlins have gray backs, streaked underparts and a banded tail. Adult females have brown backs. The young birds resemble the females in plumage. The dark “mustache” mark on the face is much less pronounced in Merlins than it is in other falcons.

 photo © Rob Lonsberry Photography

The name “Merlin” comes from esmerillon, the old French name for the species. Merlins used to be called “pigeon hawks” because in flight they look somewhat pigeon-like. Their species name, columbarius, is also a reference to pigeons.

Late 19^th and early 20^th records for Merlins in southern Ontario were mostly of migrating birds. At that time, this species nested primarily in the boreal forest.

During the 1950s and 1960s, Merlin populations plummeted due to exposure to DDT. This species was placed on the National Audubon Society’s Blue List from 1972 to 1981. By the mid-1980s, Merlins were showing some recovery, but were still not up to historic levels.

In the first Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas, the nesting range was shown as from Algonquin Park and north to the tree line. However, in the twenty years between atlases, the range of this species expanded southward and included urban sites as well as the boreal wilderness. In fact, the second Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas reported that the probability of encountering Merlins in Ontario had increased 100%!

One of these records was in Port Hope, where a nesting pair was discovered on Bloomsgrove Avenue in April 2004. This pair had commandeered an old crow nest and was discovered while evicting the crows – quite a noisy event. The nest fledged two chicks that year.

A couple of years earlier, a Merlin pair had been discovered nesting at Presqu’ile Provincial Park. By 2005, Merlin nests were being discovered several places in Northumberland, in both Port Hope and Cobourg. They seem well established now.

Merlins do not build their own nests, but take over nests of crows, other raptors or sometimes squirrel dreys. They prefer to nest in coniferous trees, but there are records of nests on the ground. Although they usually nest in trees, they need open habitats adjacent to the nest in which to hunt.

Merlins prey primarily on other birds, so the presence of a nest is often detected by piles of feathers under the “plucking” perch. They are very ambitious in their choice of prey and will attack birds almost as big as themselves.

An increasing number of Merlins spend the winter in southern Ontario, but most migrate. Some of these travel as far south as South America.

Medieval falconers called Merlins “lady hawks”. They were used by European noblewomen for sport to hunt Skylarks. Merlins are still popular with falconers, who use them to hunt quarry that ranges from sparrow-sized to dove-sized.

According to banding records, the oldest known Merlin was at least 11 years, 11 months old. It was banded as an adult in New York in 1982 and recovered in New Brunswick in 1993.

Since the young are quite noisy this time of year, readers have a good chance of detecting a Merlin, if there was a nest in their area. Good luck in your search.