Bird Magic

by Greg Martin

Liberty Wildlife Volunteer

[This article was originally published in the January 2016 edition of Nature News]

Merlin the Wizard guided Arthur into becoming the Once and Future King. Merlin the Falcon guides all sorts of songbirds into becoming Today’s and Tomorrow’s lunch. Merlins are another member of North America’s falcon hierarchy, slightly bigger than an American kestrel yet smaller than the truly large prairie, peregrine, or gyr falcons.

That “in-between” sizing is a good compromise leading to a successful species: merlins have more force than kestrels without giving up the dart-like agility of a small predator. Lacking the colorful plumage of the kestrel, merlins are very much a bird that you may have already seen without ever noticing. Less a concealing magic trick and more a side effect of being drably colored and pigeon-sized, merlins are under-recognized and certainly deserving of more attention in Arizona’s raptor pantheon.

Females and young merlins are a brownish color; mature males molt a distinct bluish-gray coloration on their backs and wings. They are a prolific species throughout North America and beyond, being a well-known bird in Europe as well. Since their primary food source is small birds, and since those birds so frequently cluster around human areas, merlins have readily integrated themselves into suburban living. Merlins can often be seen perched on telephone lines and atop poles, though it takes a careful glance to differentiate them from doves, pigeons, or even kestrels. As befits a bird with a medieval name, merlins are like tiny dragons on the attack; they chase their prey through the air, matching fleeing birds wing-flap for wing-flap until their soon-to-be meal exhausts themselves. Having the stamina to keep up with or even outfly birds is no small feat, especially when you consider the most famous falcon in the world usually declines to do so. The peregrine falcon takes its prey from an extreme dive, letting gravity and its streamlined contours transform it into a living missile. Actually chasing prey is something else entirely, requiring a great deal of strength, energy, and determination. For merlins, tackling this challenge head-on reveals just how much fierceness is packed into their tiny feathered forms.

Merlins boast the features common to all falcons, like a notched beak used for quick kills, and long, tapered wings designed for extreme acrobatics at high speeds. Unfortunately, they also share a very sad recent history. Merlins, like their larger falcon cousins and other birds of prey, suffered dearly due to DDT usage in the middle of the twentieth century. DDT, a pesticide, was designed to protect crops from marauding insects. Unfortunately, small birds ate the poisoned insects, and larger birds ate them. While a single dose wasn’t necessarily fatal, over time, extreme levels of DDT worked their way up the food chain, accumulating in predators and spelling their doom. The merlin, a bird whose diet is dominated by both small birds and large insects, was especially affected. It remains a testament to the combined powers of conservation group outreach and government cooperation that species that might have vanished were saved from that tragic fate.

Whenever an animal gets a second chance, humanity does as well, namely a new opportunity to appreciate something that could have been lost forever. So the next time you drive through your neighborhood, no matter where in the country you live, take a closer look at the myriad of birds perched on the phone lines. Amongst the mundane, you might see something magical.

You might see a Merlin.