BIRDS OF NANTUCKET
A HAWK FOR A LADY
by Kenneth Turner Blackshaw
"The Boke of St. Albans" (1486) is known as the earliest example of color

Merlin

printing in England. It has sections on Hawking, Hunting, and Heraldry, and in the hawking section that we learn that there is a defined connection between social rank and the type of hunting hawk one should use.

It starts at the top - Eagles for Emperors, Gyrfalcons for Kings. A Prince rates a Peregrine and so on down to the rank of Lady, just below Squire, who is recommended to use a Merlin, actually a female Merlin.

Just as an aside, the 'boke' also delineates collective names for people and animals. We learn of "a superfluity of nuns," "a drunkenship of cobblers," and "an unkindness of ravens."

Back to this week's bird which you may guess is the Merlin. Until the '70s we called them Pigeon Hawks. Indeed our three common falcon species all had names suggesting their diet. The Peregrine was the Duck Hawk, and the delicate little Kestrel was the Sparrow Hawk. The Merlin's Latin name is still the pigeon hawk, or falcon, Falco columbarius, although it seldom kills anything as large as a domestic pigeon. It subsists mainly on other birds.

In October Nantucket is a major flyway for Tree Swallows, Red-winged Blackbirds, and Common Grackles. Not surprisingly avian predators follow these hoards of songbirds to feast upon them. It's now that we see many Cooper's Hawks, Sharp-shinned Hawks, and yes, Merlins.

Often when you see one of the aforementioned species it is only a very quick and dramatic look. They are generally hunting and moving briskly. Sharp-shins and Cooper's normally spring from concealment upon their prey. You have a better chance of seeing a Merlin.

Merlins are falcons. This class of hawk has pointed wings and a narrow tail. You seldom see them soaring like a Red-tail. The Peterson Guide tells us they vary from 10-to-13-inches in length, about the same length as a domestic pigeon. But this is deceiving since Rock Pigeons are chunky beasts with shorter tails. With birds of prey, the female is always larger than the male. Male falcons are known as tiercels, a word meaning one-third smaller. So when it was suggested that Ladies should be paired with female Merlins, it provided them a larger, more powerful and aggressive hunting companion.

Female Merlins and the youngsters are brown above and white streaked with brown below. The little males are similar underneath but with bluegray backs. All of them have banded tails.

Griscom and Folger's "Birds of Nantucket" from 1948 tells us that the Merlin is unexpectedly rare on Nantucket, a 'vagrant' with only five records. This has all changed. For some reason these exciting little falcons are experiencing an upsurge in their population. Since 1974 they have been found on every one of our Christmas Bird Counts with a high count of 15 birds in 2003. We now expect to find them from the beginning of September through the end of April. In October when so many are migrating through, they are easy to find.

On a recent afternoon I spotted a male in Shimmo actively pursuing a Northern Flicker, a big woodpecker about the same size as the Merlin. Strangely they both returned to the same dead pine tree, the flicker below the hawk. Almost immediately the Merlin dropped on the woodpecker who quickly flipped over as if to peck the Merlin, both calling excitedly. After they separated, two Blue Jays entered the fracas. The falcon made passes at the jays, coming very close to doing damage.

After each attempt, the Merlin surged low over my head in a high g turn. Seeing this made me think of how the newspaper reporter blacked out flying with the Blue Angels in just such a turn. This continued for perhaps ten minutes, almost seeming like a game, albeit a rather dangerous one. It was broken up with the arrival of a Peregrine Falcon that herded the Merlin off towards Polpis Road and the woods became silent again.

Another birder suggested this might have been a young and inexperienced Merlin. But this one was at least a year old, having molted to his grey blue suit. My research for this article found an example of just this interaction with a Merlin, only this time with an American Crow. Each individual distrusted the other and just couldn't allow it to be near without squabbling.

Often during Nantucket's winter, Merlins will choose to perch on a phone pole on Spark's Avenue or perhaps Lower Orange Street. Another favorite spot is out in Codfish Park. This behavior makes it possible to get a really good view of these "Lady's Hawks" in a telescope. If you see one, try and guess why this species is doing well, while a close

relative, the American Kestrel, is disappearing. I

George C. West creates illustrations for these articles. If you enjoy 'social' birding, join the Nantucket Bird Club at 8 a.m. Sundays in front of Nantucket High School for a two to three hour birding trip. Call 228- 1693 for more information. To hear about rare birds, or to leave a bird report call the Massachusetts Audubon hot line at 888-224-6444, option 4. Ask Ken a question at: kenandcindy@copper.net.