Not only was the shorebirding really good this evening at the north end of
Burr Oak Lake in Morgan County, but I was treated to absolutely stunning
looks at an adult male Merlin that tried very hard to catch shorebirds.  The
bird darted around chasing shorebirds and would fly out of sight behind the
woods in back of me and on three separate occasions came barreling out of
this cove pursuing birds with intense speed.  On one occasion, it nearly had
a Lesser yellowlegs and the yellowlegs became very vocal at what looked to
be last seconds of its life and the Merlin turned off the bird to chase a
Semipalmated plover.  I've never seen anything like it.   Finally, the bird
landed on the mudflat and stayed put for over 4 minutes at least, panting
from the pursuit.  This was by far the most excellent and extensive study
I've had of an Ohio Merlin.  So, I quickly grab my camera to digiscope the
bird.  Here it was on the mudflat, in perfect setting sunlight at relatively
close range for a Merlin (from my experiences at least.)  Then, I remember
that last night in a pinch my wife grabbed the camera batteries for her
reading light.  I had a backup set ready to go, but simply took off out of
the house this evening leaving behind the batteries.  I was hidden from the
bird by the tall water lilies and a hanging willow branch.  So, I'm not sure
if the bird knew I was even there - it certainly did not seem like it.  I
was hidden by a natural blind.  I doubt I will ever have that good of a
chance to photograph a Merlin again- the light was amazing, and it was so
patient.  The view of the bird at 20x was awesome.

Also of special note was a fairly large gathering of Chimney swifts that
were moving from northwest to southeast.  I estimate that at least 400 birds
were feeding over the lake, many of the birds coming into contact with the
water.  I don't know if they were skimming a drink or pursuing food, but
there were so many doing it on the calm lake, that it seemed like someone
was skipping hundreds of rocks across the lake simultaneously.  Then, like
Ospreys do, they would shake the water off of them after flying a short
distance.  Again the sun was perfect and the sun shining through all the
birds hitting the water and then shaking off was pretty cool.

Here is a rough list of birds seen.  The Merlin prevented me from finding
anything else.

Merlin
Semipalmated sandpiper 30+
Least 30+
Pectoral 10+
Semipalmated plover 2
both yellowlegs 8
Solitary 3
Spotted 5
Great Egret 1
Great Blue heron 5
Green Heron 2
Cedar Waxwings
Barn Swallows
Chimney Swifts 400+

Glen Crippen
Burr Oak Lake


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