Carter Hill Raptor Observatory - New Hampshire Audubon

Merlin (Falco columbarius)
Season Total: 65* High Count: 6 (Oct. 9) November – 1
Our small, dark, “chocolate falcon” moves with purpose, often disappearing behind the horizon
before someone can call out “merlin!” There is often a merlin somewhere in sight during early October
that will perch and preen from a maple snag, a fluffy little character bearing little resemblance to the
razor-edged hunter notorious for harassing anything in the sky. Most merlins are observed in the “falcon
hour” during the second half of the afternoon, zipping low over the trees. During midday, when lift is at
its greatest, any merlins appear minute and distant as aerodynamic flecks diving on slightly more
visible specks with the characteristic speed of a falcon. As the merlin becomes a more common
breeding bird throughout New England, it will be worth attempting to discern migrants from potentially
„local‟ breeders that might linger later into the migratory period.
Merlin. Photo by Katrina Fenton
Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus)
Season Total: 44* High Count: 9 (Oct. 5)* November – 1
Peregrines and wind – one could almost wonder if one could exist without the other. Few birds
will move in a stiff headwind, but peregrines seem to relish it. There are few birders who do not have
peregrine stories, and many will tell of how this charismatic species was influential in sparking an
interest in birds. What schoolchild will not tell of a peregrine's legendary speed? 160, maybe 200 miles
per hours! Maybe faster. In a dive, pumping into the teeth of a gale, or even in a full soar, peregrines are
a sight to behold. A daily record or nine peregrines was observed on October 5 th this season, four more
than the previous daily high count. Peregrines have been making a resurgence in the Northeast since the
banning of DDT and have, like the bald eagle, been removed from the federal endangered species list.