I think Jay's right about the attractions urban cemeteries have to merlins. I'm hopeful someone can also explain to us why merlins seem to have increased in reported numbers in Ohio over the past 15 years or so. In his 1989 edition of "The Birds of Ohio," Peterjohn said this species, after population losses to DDT, etc, had rebounded to its former numbers by the '80s. He called it rare, and said normal yearly numbers were about four along the Lake Erie shore, with birds seen inland only 5-7 years each decade, with a maximum three per year. He calls them "accidental to casual winter visitors," and cited a single season-long stay in 1985-86. No doubt there are more qualified observers out there now, but not so many as to account for the much greater numbers seen these days. For example, Peterjohn says of winter merlins in his *2001* edition, "Formerly accidental winter visitors, the winter status of merlins changed markedly in the 1990s." In winter 1999-00 there were 29 reported, above and beyond 14 from the CBCs. And their numbers have probably increased since then, with multiples wintering at certain spots since the famous four inland in Bath, Ohio in the mid-'90s. Wintering merlins seem fairly evenly distributed around the state now, or at least as even distributed as large cemeteries with mature conifers. There is plenty of old--meaning less substantial than one would like--evidence that merlins nested in Ohio in the nineteenth century. J. P. Kirtland, for example, casually mentioned that he had a pair nesting for years in his yard in Lakewood (1859), and deemed it a permanent resident in the state. Merlins don't seem to have been set back as severely as peregrines and eagles by DDT, maybe because their diet didn't include fishes and waterbirds that perhaps more readily accumulated such poisons. At any rate, they rebounded entirely on their own, without help from wildlife managers (and without the genetic scrambling that afflicts peregrines). Trautman observed that merlins seemed to be rely on insect prey in the fall, and only once saw one capture a mammal. Last year I posted here some details gleaned from an article, and repeat it here: Martin Bailey wrote an interesting article about merlins for a Canadian journal a few years ago. He described interesting new predator/prey relationships in cities and towns in Saskatchewan. The introduction there of towns and trees in what used to be vast prairies has led to the appearance of crows, peregrine falcons (introduced), great horned owls, and merlins into the bird mix, following previous incursions by house sparrows and rock pigeons. Merlins, much more tolerant of the human presence than in wilder spots, began nesting in spruce plantings in urban settings south of their previous range. In a fair-sized town such as Weyburn (pop. ~10K), five merlin nests were found, spaced about 250 meters apart in scattered spruces. In a large city like Saskatoon (~200K population), over 300 nesting locations have been identified within the city limits over the past 50 years since they've moved in. Merlins do not build nests, often relying instead on abandoned crows' nests; locals complained about the depredations of merlins on feeder-birds, forgetting that crows probably caused far more damage by robbing eggs. In a related note, lethal control projects for crows and magpies in some areas were sidetracked when it was made known that protected merlins relied on the nests of unprotected corvids. Merlins had especially important impacts on house sparrow populations after arriving as breeders. A more recent occupation of urban breeding grounds by Cooper's hawks may conflict with that by merlins. Bill Whan Columbus ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. 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]