After a discussion about Cape May Warblers I decided to stop at the Ithaca City Cemetary to check the tall spruces. I didn't get that far. Just below the Stewart Ave. entrance there's a short road that goes off sharply to the north and over that road and up toward Stewart Ave. stands a white pine with its top 20' dead and sere. I saw a lump near the top that turned out to be a MERLIN with its back to me, either grooming or picking at some food. After a minute of watching it, it dive bombed a cardinal and then flew to the south into another white pine. I refound it perched near a dense packing of sticks that might be a nest. To find the putative nest tree find the bench with the short flagpole on the left of the main road where it bends sharply to the right. Stand across the road (on the north side) at the bend and sight to the left of the flagpole looking SSE. There are several pines up there just 50 yards or so below Stewart AVe. The bird and nest (or collection of sticks) was in the left-most tree maybe 20-25' from its top. Merlins have been reported thereabouts perennially but this the first one I've found there.
Marginal digivideo through my scope at: http://youtu.be/azf-ZZlmi9Q Best...Stuart -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
