Today I saw my first Merlin of 2011. It was hunting at a place I have seen Merlins other years. (I thought I had found one earlier in the month, but that bird turned out to be a Sharp-shinned Hawk).
Beyond my interest in just seeing the Merlin was the fact that the picture revealed that it had been banded. My guess is that for a local Merlin to wear a band, it would have received it near Boise where the Idaho Fish and Game has been studying the bird: the Merlin holds Idaho’s ranking of a Species of Greatest Conservation Need. I will try to track this down.
