Last evening (Sun), Tim & I took a friend to Nimisilla Reservoir on the Summit/Stark County line to see the Purple Martin evening roost.   About a week ago the numbers of birds here was being estimated at about 15,000 birds but the cool weather has caused many of them to move on.  There was probably less than 10,000 last night and they were pretty far out--still an impressive sight but last year we went earlier in Aug and the sky was full.

A better sighting even than the martins was a Merlin that we were able to observe for about 15-20 minutes as it preened itself.  We had great views through the scope while we waited for sunset & the martins.  The Merlin had pretty dark plumage.  Upon 1st sighting, we assumed it to be a Kestral  but the dark face without the obvious face markings of a Kestral & a faint line above the eye soon made us realize it was a Merlin.  It was also sitting in a manner which we have never seen a Kestral do.  It looked like it was perched more like a woodpecker, on the side of a dead tree, though I suspect it was acturally on a small short branch that was not visible to us.  It did not have the posture of a Kestral, nor did it ever bob its tail the whole time we watched it.  According to the McCormac & Sibley guides, Merlins are seen in Ohio during migration/dispersal & this is the beginning of the migration through Ohio.  We have only seen Merlins about 3
 or 4 times & it was a life bird for our friend so we felt really lucky to have been able to watch this bird for so long.

Laura Dornan
Stark County

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