[cobirds] Re: Possible Merlin(s) near Guanella Pass?

After some gentle and nonjudgmental suggestions of alternatives by Nathan Pieplow and Tom P.  I am realizing the birds I was asking about were much more likely to be Sharp-shinned or Cooper's Hawks. Based on size and some sound links Nathan provided, I am leaning towards Sharp-Shinned, but given the difficulty many guides suggest in distinguishing the two sp., I am keeping my mind open.

In addition to thanking Tom and Nathan, I want to give my thanks to the list administrators and the other folks who monitor and post here.  It has been a great learning experience to feel that I can ask questions and that people will be helpful and nonjudgmental.  As a less experienced birder trying to get better, this is perhaps one of the greatest strengths of COBIRDS.   Thanks again and keep up the good work!

Ed Furlong
Evergreen, Colorado
On Thursday, August 23, 2012 8:54:09 PM UTC-6, cogoshawk wrote:

First, my apologies for not reporting this sooner.

Last Sunday my wife and I hiked the Silver Dollar Lake Trail, (~ 9 miles from Georgetown) when returning to our car at the paved parking area at Guanella Pass Road (~11,000 ft elevation) , we heard some persistent raptor calls from the north side of the 4-wheel track that leads up to the trailhed.  We were at most a hundred yards from the parking lot.  Just off to the roadside we saw three small raptors roosting on  the fallen timber about 10 feet in from the road.  The fallen timber is blowdown from a major windstorm earlier this year.  The three birds we saw appeared about kestrel sized; in fact that was what we thought they might be at first.  However their wing coloration and facial markings did not seem consistent with kestrels. Backs were more consistently gray, few facial markings, some tail barring and pretty uniform chestnut streaking on the chest.  I also considered prairie falcons, but these seemed pretty small, again most closely resembling kestrels in size

Consulting our NG field guide we felt they most strongly resembled Merlin, esp. the richardsonii (Prairie) form.  One looked somewhat larger than the other two, with more definitive field marks.  The birds were pretty calm as we watched them for about 15 minutes, but when I moved trying to get a snapshot (no luck, too much brush, too little familiarity with the point-and-shoot), they grew agitated and flew from tree to tree, remaining in the same general area.  We saw what appeared to be a nest nearby,

We felt pretty confident in our identification, but researching more,  looking into the breeding records for Colorado (none in the breeding bird atlas) and  examining range maps in various guides and in Richter and Preston suggests that a breeding Merlin would be very unusual, although at that altitude conditions might be more consistent with normal breeding areas for this species.  A few records exist for nests in Colorado according to Niedrach and Bailey. 

This is the first chance I have really had to sit down and describe what I saw and try to understand from my personal library whether it might be possible, and wanted to alert the larger COBIRDS community.  Again my apologies for not reporting this sooner, especially if our ID is correct and these are truly Merlin.

Ed Furlong
Evergreen, CO

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