A bird with an attitude...
by Riverwalk Birding Club
posted September 29, 2008
Falcons are streamlined birds of prey with pointed wings and longish tails that feed on birds, rodents and insects such as grasshoppers and dragonflies.
The American Kestrel is the one about the size of a Blue Jay with the very colorful markings that you see on powerlines along open grassland.
The Peregrine Falcon and The Merlin are seldom seen unless you know where to look for them and spend a lot of time birding as both are rare birds.
Charles and Dreama Dean were fortunate to locate this beautiful Merlin while on vacation in North Carolina and as usual Charles had his camera ready to record this outstanding shot.
At first glance you could mistake a Merlin for a immature Peregrine Falcon as both have the vertical brown streaking on the chest ,but a closer look for the “Elvis Sideburns” will show you the difference. The young Peregrine Falcon will have the vertical brown streaking on the chest plus a pair of dark “Elvis Sideburns”.
The adult Peregrine Falcon will have horizontal streaking on the chest plus the “Elvis” sideburns and dark top of head, plus it will be more the size of a crow.
Both the Merlin and Peregrine are rare birds to the Chattanooga area, but we have a Peregrine Falcon that can be found on the tall steel tower near Chickamauga Dam on the east side of the river, she is there most every morning early as she roost under the Hwy 153 bridge at night and hunts from this tower. We do see Merlins on the steel towers sometimes during the fall as they are migrating but they do not hang around very long.
Thanks to Charles Dean and Jack Gentle for the use of their photos of these rare birds.
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