The Merlin Family

Last night I had church.  This summer, I've been making sure I leave a bit early so I can spend some time before service checking in on the Merlin Family.

No, these aren't people. These are the small little hawks (12-14 inches) that started nesting this year in a tree in our church parking lot.  You can always hear mama screeching up a big fuss during service, probably a Magpie got too close to the nest. 

I had suspected for a while that they were nesting in the tree, and it took me a long time to find the nest.  But when I finally located the nest about 3 or 4 weeks ago, I found this little guy:

This is Baby Merlin - "fledgling" is the proper term.

 I haven't seen Baby Merlin too much since then, but Mama Merlin is always around.  And sure enough, I was in luck last night.  She was on her usual look-out post, and what was more perfect was the lighting.  I got these gorgeous photos of her:

Mama Merlin telling the Magpie off and protecting her nest.

 Its been quite a treat to watch these guys this summer.  I'm hoping they'll choose to nest here again next year.