RBG. Hendrie Valley, Burlington ON. October 25th. 2020. I’m certain all birders scan the sky, the skyline and exposed branches. It’s easy pickings sometimes, we do it without thinking and constantly. On our regular transect in this valley there are a number of old spikey snags, once formidable trees, now just crooked fingers. Today I noted a bird atop one of them and assumed it to be a lingering Red-winged Blackbird, it’s the sort of thing they do. My companion though took a little more care and wondered what it was on that dead old tree. I looked again. “Merlin I think. Let’s get a bit closer.”
Fearing that it might fly off at our approach, needlessly as it turns out, we hurried closer and discovered that it was indeed a Merlin, it was too busy plucking a Cedar Waxwing for breakfast to care about us, and besides it was a full twenty metres above us.
Just minutes earlier we had seen a tight flock of twenty or so waxwings and not paid it a lot of attention; they’re quite common about now but Merlins are among the many hazards that thin out bird populations.
Our transect this day was uneventful, typically autumnal although, I should note that the Mallard population in this valley has swollen enormously. We are experiencing days with three or four times the usual number. Fifty or sixty Mallards is not unusual in the valley, but today it was 213, five days ago 133. The valley must look ideal to migrating birds high above and on their way south but, looking down to see a sheltered place with quiet ponds and plenty of food, how could they resist. I’m sure they are feeding on appropriately named Duckweed, a tiny green plant the size of a match-head, millions of which may carpet a pond bright green making it look sinisterly unhealthy, but in fact fuel for ducks, geese and swans. In short order the Mallards will leave and the ponds will become more suitable for skating.
Today the Merlin and its Cedar Waxwing breakfast were My Birds of the Day but the Mallards, in their own way, set the scene.
Gorgeous imagery… ‘old spikey snags, once formidable trees, now just crooked fingers’. Many thx for poetic, vicarious birding…