Having followed the recent string of reports on the Hanover golf course Merlins, at 8:30 am this morning I checked the Wilder boat landing, where Kent McFarland and I had watched a Merlin pair nest-building on April 10. Subsequent visits during May by both of us, and other observers, had not produced additional sightings of the pair, leading me to wonder if they had failed to nest. However, I hadn't been back there since mid-May to check. This morning, two juveniles were perched quietly on a large dead pine snag across the river from the boat landing. I waited for 15 minutes in hopes that an adult would come by to feed them, but none did. From the concrete abutment at the end of the point just below the boat landing, the snag is slightly upriver on the NH shore, below a cluster of large emergent pines on a bluff above, which is where Kent and I observed the nest in April. We had seen one of the adults perched on the same snag in April, so it is probably a good spot to search for them. Since the young have obviously fledged, the family may not stay around long. In addition to 15 Mallards, there was also a female or young Blue-winged Teal along the NH shore. Chris -- **************** Chris Rimmer Vermont Center for Ecostudies P.O. Box 420 Norwich, VT 05055 802-649-1431 ext. 1 www.vtecostudies.org **************************************************************** To post messages, send e-mail to: [log in to unmask] Set your e-mail application to PLAIN TEXT ONLY to post messages. To contact the list owner: [log in to unmask] ---------------------------------------------------------------- Web based archives and subscription management are available at: http://listserv.dartmouth.edu/Archives/uv-birders.html ****************************************************************