Three Merlins

["Kristin Purdy" <kristinpurdy at comcast dot net>]

I earned big dividends today running a bunch of mindless errands around 
Ogden, Weber County.  Today was a three-MERLIN day. I've never had a 
three-Merlin day before.  Two of the three birds (a male Boreal Merlin 
and a male Prairie Merlin) were sitting on the tops of the tall power 
poles that run north-south on the bench about a quarter mile east of 
Harrison Blvd.  The third Merlin, another male Boreal, was on a tall 
power pole two blocks west of Harrison at the intersection of Country 
Hills Drive and the north entrance of McKay-Dee Hospital Center.  

I suppose it's possible that the two Boreals could have been the same 
bird.  My two Boreal sightings were separated by hours, but by only 3/4 
mile.   

I'm also pretty sure I had a Merlin in the yard yesterday.  I had a view 
to inspire a charlie horse, both my windows and my contacts were cloudy, 
and the bird was quickly chased away by a magpie, so I'm not completely 
sure.  The really amazing facet of yesterday's yard birding was the 
combined 'oomph' of an early-morning visit by a Sharpie (that was chased 
away by three magpies), then the Merlin (that was chased away by a 
Magpie), and then an American Kestrel (that was chased away by a 
magpie).  

Kris 

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