| What's Inside for 2011 Cover: Eastern Screech Owl January: Merlin February: Carolina Wrens March: Little Blue Heron April: Common Grackle May: Piping Plover June: Red-bellied Woodpecker July: Cedar Waxwing August: Pectoral Sandpiper & Semipalmated Sandpiper September:
Snowy Egret & October: Black-throated Blue Warbler November: Bufflehead December: Eastern Screech Owl Back Cover: All |
Twelve 4"x6" glossy photographs of birds from the Northeast of North America
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January 2011: Merlin (Falco columbarius) Swift, agile, aggressive, Merlins are deadly predators of small and medium sized songbirds, usually catching them on the wing. Males, like this one, have slatey-blue backs and wings, where immatures and females are browner. They are small pigeon-sized falcons of coniferous forests and open wetlands and prairies found all across the northern hemisphere, and while they are widely distributed they remain uncommon. Unlike their smaller cousin the American Kestrel and the larger Peregrine Falcon, Merlins have the least distinctly marked facial pattern with only a hint of mustache. © Copyright Phillip Augusta. All rights reserved. |
