Local birds

This beautiful bird is called a Merlin falcon (this photo was taken by nature photographer Marve Breece) and is one of the pair that has been nesting in our neighborhood the past 3 years. This is incredible because it is the first nesting pair to have been documented in the city. Merlins have probably been living here for some time but nobody's ever watched, photographed, and written about them before. We have long since nicknamed the female, Spike (for a white patch on her head 3 years ago) and her mate, Thor (short for nearby Thornton Creek) and cheered the pair on through 2 successful fledges of 5 each season.
This year we were in the process of finding the new nest site (in the neighborhood but very much out in the open and exposed to all manner of traffic) when the storms and winds I've been writing about struck and brought change to these bigger birds not unlike the changes brought to the wee Bushtits here in my backyard. We heard and observed the pair the past couple of nights in the old neighborhood and found that quite curious as they should be at the new nest. Through the grapevine, we learned that the wind had really moved and unsettled the nest site. Plus, crows had been pestering the Merlins of late. These factors seem to have pushed the pair to choose at this late date another nest site. As Merlins, for some reason, don't build their own nests like our little Bushtits do so well, they'll have to locate another crow's platform high up in a fir tree. Perhaps what we observed last night was the new home! I'm going out to check on this now and will post more results later.