Merlin – Falco columbarius

This was a different trip to Bombay Hook. We went again on the weekend in the afternoon. There were not nearly as many birds as there were the week before.

We saw this bird perched on a dead tree across from Shearness Pool. We could tell that it was a bird of prey but since I am a relatively new birder, I was not sure what bird it was.

I have been labeling and relabeling this bird but I think I am settling on the Merlin. I have thought that it is a Peregrine Falcon but Peregrines have whiter chest so I am going back to Merlin. My father-in-law agrees that it’s a Merlin.