Green Lawn Cem, Columbus
12/223/06
After a fruitless day on Wed, the merlin was very cooperative today.
I arrived in late morning, and while cruising around , just north of the
pit, observed a gentleman photographing something--it was the merlin. I
thought he would be posting by now. He said he had been there for quite a
while and taken ___ (a large number) of pictures with his elegant
apparatus. It was on a branch of an oak on the ridge behind the
mausoleum/auditorium and in plain view from the road. Eventually, it took
off to the north. I walked around the northern part of the ridge and
circled back towards the mausoleum and found the bird perched high (but
in clear view) on a large oak tree on the flats just north of the
mausoleum--again in plain view. It was feeding on a small bird, which
appeared to be a junco. It appeared to have only recently started. I
watched it awhile, then went over to the pit to see what was there and
came back. It had finished its lunch but remained perched at the same
spot. While there, another man and his son, pulled up. They said they had
seen a merlin in section 57, which is just a list SW of the iron bridge
(near the junction of the red and white road stripes). They indicated
that is was only "about 10 minutes" ago. If so, it would have been a
different merlin because the one I was observing had been in that tree
for at least 1/2 hour. I went back that way and cruised the area, but
found nothing more.

Rich

Richard Cressman
Columbus OH
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