*Thanks to assistance from participants in the cayugabirds-l,* Mark Witmer, Maddie Ulinski, and I were able to monitor 7 Merlin nests this spring-summer. The Briarwood Lane nest fledged the third of three nestlings this morning (28 July). Five nests were in Ithaca, one in Dryden and one of Wells College campus. Three of the nests were predated. Although this is a statistically tiny sample, it provides a very high rate of nest failure in comparison to other, large surveys. The dominant prey species at all nests was the House Sparrow. Interestingly, House Sparrows have been declining very rapidly, a decline that started long before Merlin started to nest and increase in abundance in New York.
It is nice to have our little urban falcon zipping around the town/city, picking off a lot of species but mostly House Sparrows. Thanks again for directing us to nest locations. John, Mark, and Maddie -- 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/ --
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