Hi Folks, This will be the 13 year of my attempt to find all Merlin pairs and nests in Tompkins County. Thanks to reports from the many local birders this survey is fairly complete. I think this may the most nearly complete survey of any county due to the help of so many people. In 2014 I found 1 nest and 2 pairs.By 2021 I found 6 nests and 11 pairs.By 2022 there were 12 pairs in Tompkins County A research report on this study is now in review in a journal with Anne Clark and Connor Loomis. This report depends greatly on reports from the local birding community to either <Cayugabirds-L, to eBird, or to me personally. I follow up on all locations with two or more reports to either of the public sources. Merlin are back and paris are forming. Egg laying occurs over a wide range of dates, but starts about mid-April. I'd love to get reports of any observation. My general rule is that I do not share nest locations to the public, unless the nest has been widely described by others. John Confer
-- 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/ --
