Hey I hit the Greenlawn today in search of the Merlin. Instead of a dissappearing act this time it tripled itself! haha. Yeah I first came upon a dark streaked Merlin in section 57 at the top of a tree with a prominent dead snag at the top where I got some cool pictures and a video of the bird. It flew off and then I relocated it over closer to the pit at the top of an oak tree, it soon flew to the north and I watched it in my bino's as it joined two other birds they zipped around each other and one split off that I thought looked like the cooper's hawk, while the other two flew quickly and closely together towards me after circling. They were both Merlins I could tell at that distance and they gave me even better looks as they flew back directly over head. They sure are quick! I then walked down towards the pond to tell people and another guy had seen the same thing I did from the other side of the tree. Then before circling the pond looking for a Pine Warbler which we couldn't relocate, I was telling someone else I'd seen the Merlins and just then a Cooper's hawk chased by after a Mourning dove and I believe the Merlin was close in there too, in any case after it blasted by it looked like the Merlin went up to Join two other Merlins who were flying over in back the other direction to the north. They were Merlins and the third guy who went up to join them we got a good longer look at and it was a Merlin also, so at one point we could see all 3 Merlins at once. It was pretty exciting, and then a Red-tailed Hawk circled in. I drove over to try and find the Merlins again on the way out, but couldn't relocate them immediately so I drove on out of there. So anyways, I was excited to be able to find and photograph my first Ohio Merlin, and follow him up with two more right away! I'll try and post my photo's later today on the new forum and perhaps at Rarebird.org. Good Birding, - Ben Warner ________________________________________________________________________ Check out the new AOL. Most comprehensive set of free safety and security tools, free access to millions of high-quality videos from across the web, free AOL Mail and more. ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]