I was able to see four of the young Merlins, all lined up on one limb. At one point, one of the adults flew in and made a quick prey drop-off then it flew off towards the nest in the ginkgo tree but I was blocked so I don’t know if it went to the nest or somewhere else.

 I did not see the reported fifth Merlin youngster which people seem to think has not branched yet and is still in the nest but It’s hard to get a good angle on the nest. 

I couldn’t stay long because it started to rain which quickly turned to a downpour. I was able to outrun the storm driving back to Granville but hope to make another trip soon. 

I thanked the owner of the house where the merlins are hanging out for allowing birders to stare into her trees—she had come out to pick up a tree limb that had fallen. She seemed to be OK about all the fuss. 

Just as an FYI, it appears that you should park on the cross streets as the street that the bird can be seen from appears to have “no parking” signs on it. In a neighborhood like this we should be careful to keep the neighbors happy.

Amazing sight—I’ve never seen young merlins much less 4! altho they seem close to adult size already. Another birder said the easiest way to tell the juveniles is they have a terminal white band on their tails. 

Thx to Susan & Tyler for showing me the nest & where the best angle of view was to see the youngsters. 

Peggy Wang 
Granville 

Sent from my iPhone
______________________________________________________________________

Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society.
Please consider joining our Society, at www.ohiobirds.org/site/membership.php.
Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list.


You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at:
listserv.miamioh.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS
Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]