In mid afternoon today, numerous birds, principally Red-winged Blackbirds and Common Grackles, were feeding on some newly spread cracked corn and sunflower seeds in the backyard here in Norwich village. At the time I was inside and not watching closely. When suddenly nearly all the birds flew off, I glanced out the window and could see two remaining birds struggling on the ground, one on top of the other. Grabbing binoculars, I could see through the window that the bird underneath was a Common Grackle with a yellow iris and that the top bird was a brownish Merlin, which appeared to be not too much bigger than the grackle. The struggle did not last long, and then I could no longer see the yellow iris of the grackle. The Merlin showed a light line above the eye extending backward across the head and the single, relatively narrow, dark "moustache" as well as the streaked underparts. The brownish color indicates that the Merlin was either an adult female or a juvenile. The Merlin was able to fly off out of sight while carrying the presumably dead grackle. There were surprises in this event. First, predation by an accipiter would have been anticipated to be more likely because Sharpies and Cooper's have in the past on a number of occasions visited the yard, whereas I had never previously detected a Merlin here. Second, this was an unexpectedly early spring sighting for the Merlin; Murin and Pfeiffer's (2002) bar graph compilation for historic Vermont records indicates that the species becomes slightly more prevalent, but still uncommon, around the beginning of April. Third, it was impressive that the Merlin could fly away while carrying the grackle; the Sibley 2003 eastern guide lists a Merlin as weighing 190 grams (6.5 oz), whereas a grackle is reported to weigh 115 grams (4 oz). George Clark Norwich, VT **************************************************************** 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 ****************************************************************