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Merlin
last update: Apr 21, 2009 11:15 AM
Latin name: Falco columbarius
Population: 100,000-1,000,000 individuals
Cites classified: Least Concern
Where found: Circumpolar in Iceland, across Eurasia though not at the northern coast of Russia, and across northern North America from northern Yukon across Canada to southern Hudson Bay and Labrador
Age/ life expectancy: 7-10 years
Wingspan: 55-65 cm
Length: 25-32 cm
Weight: 150-250 g
Mating/Breeding: Merlins are monogamous. The female typically lays 4-5 eggs and does most of the incubation. The male provides the female with food, and takes over incubation duties while she eats. When the young hatch, the female broods and the male hunts. He brings food back to the female, who in turn, feeds it to the young. Both parents help rear the young. Merlins usually use other birds' old nests, or rarely, a natural cavity. They mainly nest in conifers between 18 and 36 feet high in cities, or, in open prairie, in old crows' nests.
Eggs: 3-5 heavily red-blotched buff eggs
Hibernation: some migrate from Iceland to western Europe while other Icelandic birds are residents, Eurasian birds migrate to central and southern Europe and southern central Russia, and North American birds move to the southern US, Central America, and northern South America
Hunting Habits: catches birds in flight and will occasionally pursue prey for some distance
Feed on: small birds
Predators: red fox, pine marten, and goshawk
Colour/Body: The male Merlin has a blue-grey back and orange-tinted underparts. The female and immature are dark brown above and whitish spotted with brown below. Subspecies vary in coloration.
Subspecies: F. c. aeasalon: Northern Eurasia, from British Isles through Scandinavia to central Siberia. Population of northern Britain shows evidence of gene flow from subaesalon. British Isles population resident, rest migratory; F. c. subaesalon: Iceland and Faroe Islands. Latter population has some gene flow with aesalon. Resident; F. c. pallidus: Asian steppes between Aral Sea and Altay Mountains. Migratory; F. c. insignis: Siberia between Yenisei and Kolyma Rivers. Migratory; F. c. lymani: Mountains of eastern Kazakhstan and surrounding countries. Migratory; F. c. pacificus: Russian Far east to Sakhalin. Migratory; F. c. columbarius: Northern North America east of Rocky Mountains, except Great Plains. Migratory; F. c. richardsoni: Great Plains. Resident; F. c. suckleyi: Pacific coast of North America, from S Alaska to N Washington state. Resident.
Interesting Trivia:
- The Merlin does not build a nest, but instead takes over old nests of other raptors or crows. It sometimes nests on top of domed magpie nests rather than in the nest cavity.
