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.