Merlin

I've been wanting to see a merlin for years. I have seen the odd merlin sighting on eBird lists, but never multiple sightings and never a preponderance of lists with a merlin inclusion on them. Just recently I started specifically looking at eBird hotspots in the Los Angeles area for merlin sightings. Several weeks ago I visited the Marona Wetlands in Torrance and the Sepulveda Basin in the San Fernando Valley specifically because of merlin sightings in those areas, without success. On Saturday, January 10, 2027 I visited the Salton Sea specifically to try and see a merlin. I'd seen merlin sightings in Sonny Bono Salton Sea Unit 1 and also in an area I'm not familiar with near the north shore of the Salton Sea. I've also had the prairie falcon on my radar, but sightings of it seem more rare than merlin sightings. On my visit to the Salton Sea I specifically disregarded my favorite viewing subject, the burrowing owl, and focused on what I believed was merlin territory. 

I went to Sonny Bono Salton Sea Unit 1 and saw lots of snow geese, but no merlin. I later noted one merlin was seen by another individual on an eBird list that day there. Next I drove to the Sonny Bono Salton Sea NWR headquarters and hiked the two mile roundtrip Rock Hill Trail, walking through the trees on the south side of the large grass field where the snow geese are fed and walking slowly through the ground near the visitor center. While walking the visitor center grounds I had a merlin fly very close to the ground and just a little in front of me and above my head. I got a very good, close look at it. I took a quick look for it, then immediately to All About Birds to look for merlin photos and found one that looked a lot like it. Although I had no chance for a photo, I'm pretty sure it was a merlin I saw and the sighting got me very excited. 

Later in the day I was at the Salton Sea State Recreation Area on the northeast shore of the Salton Sea and saw a prairie falcon, which I did photograph and confirmed its identification. Having those two sightings on one day after the many years I've been looking had me giddy. 

Monday I looked at eBird lists for both spots and neither had anyone else report a merlin or a prairie falcon although there were lists by multiple people for both places that day. 

The merlin has nine subspecies. Three breed in North America and six breed in Eurasia. The three North American subspecies are: (1) the black merlin, ssp. suckleyi, from the Pacific Northwest; (2) the taiga (or boreal) merlin, ssp. columbarius, from Alaska to Newfoundlands; and (3) the prairie merlin, ssp. richardsonii, from the northern prairies and aspen parkland of the U.S. and southern Canada. I'm not going to go into the Eurasian subspecies. A range map from Birds of the World follows. Orange is breeding, yellow is migration, light blue is non-breeding, and light purple is year-round. 

AI confirms that all three subspecies of merlin found in North America, the black merlin (suckleyi), the prairie merlin (richardsonii), and the taiga merlin (columbarius) can be found in California, primarily in winter while they are migrating, although the black merlin can be a resident and the prairie merlin is more rare. The following are some illustrations from Birds of the World.

Black Merlin, ssp. suckleyi

Taiga Merlin, female, ssp. columbarius

Taiga Merlin, male, ssp. columbarius

The following is a photo from All About Birds of a Taiga merlin immature female. Right after I saw the merlin and looked at All About Birds, this is the one that stood out to me as like what I'd just seen.

This has whetted my appetite to see another merlin and get a photo of one. 

Prairie Falcon

I have been wanting to see a prairie falcon for years. On Saturday, January 10, 2025, the wish was fulfilled. I was at the Salton Sea State Recreation Area, next to Varner Harbor, on the east end, walking in and around the dense foliage looking for small birds. I got some wonderful photos of the beautiful, yellow headed, Verdin. I came up to the road right about where the boat ramp used to exist (it is now blocked off at the bottom) and looked up and saw the falcon standing on a lamp post. I immediately knew it was a bird I'd not seen before and suspected it was a prairie falcon. I only took a few photos before it flew away. I immediately sat down on a bench and went to All About Birds on my cell phone and and compared the photos with my own photos. Voila! I then spent quite a bit of time looking for where it had flown to, including driving around. I saw it at a distance at the same spot and took a long-distance photo, but it flew away before I could get closer again, from people walking near it below. I was on a high all weekend!

Illustration from Birds of the World.

It is an early arid land offshoot of the peregrine falcon and it has developed to survive in the more sparse arid environment of the American west. It eats mostly small mammals (particularly in summer) and small to medium sized birds.  

Range from Birds of the World. 

Curve-Billed Thrasher

I was with my son Sam in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in February 2025. We climbed up Arch Canyon and as we got back to the bottom I saw a curve-billed thrasher running around in the parking area. I knew it was a thrasher, but did not know if it was a California thrasher, the type of thrasher we have near our home in California. I did notice it was not as wary as the thrashers near our home. The next day we did some hiking in Alamo Canyon and I saw a curve-billed thrasher in the campground there. It eventually flew up onto a saguaro cactus and stood there for awhile. The day after we were at the little oasis near the visitor center and a curve-billed thrasher came up to the small pond for a drink. I'd been to Organ Pipe many times previously and had never seen a curve-billed thrasher previously. We saw three, each on a different day, on this trip. 

There are six subspecies and we saw ssp. palmeri, also known as Palmer's thrasher, which is found in southern Arizona, and northern Sonora and Chihuahua, Mexico. There are western subspecies and eastern subspecies and there are proposals to make ssp. palmeri a separate species. It has orange eyes, shading to golden as it reaches adulthood. It has a gray-brown chest with circular spots. It has a long tail, short wings, a decurved bill, and is brownish-black. The California thrasher has a slightly more curved-bill, has dark eyes instead of yellow-orange eyes and it doesn't have spots on its chest. Unlike the California thrasher, the curve-billed thrasher is not shy about being in the open. 

This and the next two photos were taken in Arch Canyon. The eyes really stand out. 

This and the next photo were taken in Alamo Canyon. 

This and the next two photos were taken near the visitor's center. Note the spots on the chest in the first photo. 

Illustration of ssp. palmeri from Birds of the World. 

Range from Birds of the World. 

Sage Thrasher

The sage thrasher is the smallest thrasher. It is distinguished from other thrashers by its shorter and less curved bill, a shorter tail and smaller size. It is dependent on sagebrush for successful breeding and its numbers have been greatly reduced because of the elimination of sagebrush lands. I have seen it three times. First was in Buffalo Lake NWR, southwest of Amarillo in the Texas panhandle, on March 20, 2021. Second was on the east side of Antelope Island in Utah on April 12, 2024. Third was at Big Morongo Preserve in California on February 15, 2025. 

The sage thrasher seen in the Texas panhandle. 

This photo, and the next, were taken at Big Morongo. 

Illustration from Birds of the World. 

Range from Birds of the World. Based on the range map, the sage thrasher in the Texas panhandle was wintering, at Big Morongo was migrating and at Antelope Island was breeding. 

California Thrasher

I saw my first California thrasher in Live Oak Canyon near my home in Redlands, California. I was sitting under a bridge that goes over Oak Glen Creek that connects Live Oak Canyon Road with the north side of Live Oak Canyon. I looked behind me and saw a bird with a weirdly decurved bill and thought that I was perhaps seeing my first California thrasher. I photographed my first one in Live Oak Canyon, just below Oakmont Park, standing on a large bush, on January 18, 2021. But the first time I "really" saw one was at Big Morongo Preserve near the feeders on May 21, 2022. A thrasher was running in and out of the bushes near the feeders and eating bird seed on the ground. I was amazed to see this elusive bird so clearly. I have subsequently seen them quite a few times at those feeders and also away from the feeders in large bushes. On May 30, 2029 I was with my son, Sam, and wife, Judy, at the UC Santa Cruz Botanical Garden and got a great view of two of them standing together in a small tree. they don't feel so elusive now. 

Wikipedia notes, "This species' behavior is difficult to observe because it tends to keep hidden in dense cover. In the open it runs swiftly with its tail raised. The California thrasher has a distinct foraging behavior, often seeking food under dense and continuous cover. It primarily forages on the ground, making up approximately two-thirds of its foraging activity." Further, "The California thrasher forages mostly on the ground, by digging and sweeping leaf litter and soil with its bill. It walks or hops between foraging stops. Its diet in spring is almost exclusively insects and other small invertebrates, to which it adds small soft fruits during the rest of the year. When feeding on fruits it can be in exposed situations, but is often under cover. The California thrasher has a distinct foraging behavior characterized by its habit of searching for food beneath dense and continuous cover. A significant portion of its foraging activity, around two-thirds, is conducted on the ground. The bird's choice of foraging grounds reflects its adaptation to the dense shrubbery and undergrowth common in its habitat." Birds of the World notes, "The California Thrasher is endemic to coastal and foothill areas of California, extending with the chaparral vegetation of the California Biotic Province into adjacent areas of northwest Baja California."

Following are various photos I have taken:

My first photo of one, in Live Oak Canyon. 

My first photos of one at Big Morongo. 

 

At Big Morongo on June 14, 2022. 

At Big Morongo on October 1, 2022. 

At the UC Santa Cruz Botanical Garden on March 30, 2029.

Range from Birds of the World. 

Illustration from Birds of the World. 

Sri Lankan Sambar Deer

I did a post on the Sri Lankan sambar deer (on May 16, 2019) we saw in Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan sambar is the subspecies of sambar deer found in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. It is one of seven subspecies and the largest of them, as those in the western part of their range are the largest. 

One of the first things that crossed my mind is how they compare size-wise with the North American elk. Kyle Katz in AZ Animals did a post "Sambar Deer vs. Elk: What are the differences?" I'd read that the elk is larger, but not by much. The sambar weighs 240 to 1,200 pounds and the elk 350 to 1,300 pounds. That is the biggest difference. The height is 4 to 5 feet for the sambar and 2.5 to 4.9 feet for the elk, which makes the sambar a little taller. The length is virtually identical: 5 to 8.9 feet for the sambar and 5 to 8.8 feet for the elk. There are other differences mentioned, but these were the ones that stuck out to me. 

An Australian website that sells sambar meat says that the sambar cannot be raised commercially. It notes that the high country of southeast Australia has the largest wild sambar herd in the world. The company that sells their meat gets the sambar from landowners in Victoria and New South Wales. Sambar were introduced into Australia in the 1860s in what is now Kinglake NP in Victoria. In 2017 their numbers were estimated at 750,000 to 1,000,000 in the high country of Australia. 

In India we did not see any sambar in Kaziranga NP in December of 2024, but we saw them in several different zones in Ranthambore NP. On our first safari in zone 3, I provide a photo of one female and of a large male.

Our best looks came on our fourth safari in zone 1. We saw a mother and baby and a number of large males. The best was a large male wallowing in a mud hole. We were watching it when a deer in the nearby forest barked, the signal that a tiger was nearby. The sambar immediately stood up at attention. Our guides noted that it was a great tiger sign (it was awhile later that we saw our first tiger). 

This is the sambar wallowing in the mudhole. 

This is when it jumped up to attention on hearing another deer bark. 

It got out of the mudhole and waited and watched for awhile. 

It eventually walked over to a nearby tree and started to rub its neck against it. 

It then raised its forelegs up the tree and started to rub its belly and antlers. 

Hear it is standing fully upright and is scratching its antlers against the tree limbs.

The range of the sambar from Wikipedia.