Towheeblog

I mean that literally. Photo by Tim Wilson:

The image comes from open fields along Livermore Road, north of Smithfield Road. That’s north of Baskett-Slough NWR in Polk County. Merlin are not a breeding species in the Willamette Valley. In the 1940 BIRDS OF OREGON, Gabrielson & Jewett, the last sentence on Merlin reads: “One bird was taken by Harold Dobyns near Arlington on December 22, 1927, had eaten a Horned Lark.” History repeats…

Its name in those days was “Pigeon Hawk.” Kestrel was “Sparrow Hawk.”