Merlin
On June 20, 2021, our friend John either texted or called me and said a friend of his has a Merlin nest near downtown Holland and close to the Loutit Library. He said it was in a large pine tree right next to a house. I told him it was probably a Cooper’s Hawk. At the time there were either one or two known Merlin nests in Ottawa County. Also ‘Why would a Merlin nest above a house?’ He said he was going to check it out and let us know.
He sent a photo of the “bird” on the electrical wire above the road that connected one house to another. Yes, it is a Merlin! We gathered up binoculars and camera and off we went. We met John and he explained where the nest was. We watched as adults came and went and saw two three-quarters grown young peering out of the nest. The adults would leave for periods of time and then John noticed this adult was taking time out for a Mourning Dove dinner. We left soon after I took this photo.
This photo shows the Merlin as it begins to remove the feathers.
This was a repeat of an earlier text on June 26, 2009. John called and said he was pretty sure there was a Merlin nest above the tennis courts at Tunnel Park in Holland, Michigan. I told him it might be a Cooper’s Hawk. The next day we checked it out. John was right. This nest had two youngsters in it. This was the first known Merlin nest in Ottawa County, Michigan.
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