Contributor
Date
Location
- Age and sex
- Adult, Unknown sex - X
- Sounds
- Call
- Playback
- Playback not used
Observation details
Small, angular falcon with sharply-pointed wings; noted dark, slaty gray back, wings, and cap; lacked distinct facial pattern; pale, buffy breast and belly with heavy brown streaking; dark gray tail with narrow white bands, clearly visible when the birds were perched with their backs to me. Often flew around the campground, calling loudly; calls sounded like a shrill, high-pitched "kee-kee-kee-kee", with a quality similar to Killdeer's calls, and lasting several seconds (I recorded the calls on my phone and compared them to recordings of Merlin's calls on allaboutbirds.org to help confirm the identification). The two would occasionally chase each other around in flight, and would often return to perch for long periods of time in the same tree (a tall deciduous tree in a relatively open area at the edge of the campground). The tree wasn't far from our campsite, so I got good looks at the birds with binoculars throughout the afternoon.
Technical information
- Recorder
- iPhone SE
- Microphone
- Accessories
- Original file size
- 95.75 KB