[SBB] Richardson's Merlin--correction and caution

[Bill Bousman <[[email protected]]>]

Folks:

I stated that the Merlin that Rosalie Strait photographed was a male of the 
race _richardsoni_ last week.  Others do not agree as the comments below 
show.  If there is a consensus, it is that this is a pale 
_columbarius_.  Some may conclude that these subspecific identifications 
are not as easy as may be suggested by pictures in the field guides.

Bill

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Date: Sat, 12 Nov 2005 12:08:30 -0800
From: "J.G. Diemont" <[[email protected]]>
To: Bill Bousman <[[email protected]]>
Subject: Re: [SBB] Merlin (_richardsoni_)

Fellow Birders,

This bird is an adult female columbarius (subspecies).  This is probably 
the same female columbarius that was seen over the past few years at this 
very location.  Thanks for the pics Rosalie!

Jan
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From: [[email protected]]
To: Bill Bousman <[[email protected]]>, Steve Rottenborn 
<[[email protected]]>
Subject: Re: Fwd: Re: [SBB] Merlin (_richardsoni_)
Date: Sun, 13 Nov 2005 02:49:58 +0000

Bill,

Unfortunately those pictures are probably not adequate to ID this one to 
subspecies with confidence. The streaking below looks pretty heavy, 
particularly on the flanks, which might suggest a palish columbarius; this 
seems consistent with the supercilium, which is not overly prominent in 
these pictures. My interpretation of the back color on my monitor seems a 
better fit for a male (pretty gray) and it may be light enough to think 
about richardsonii, but columbarius would fit too. The extent of white 
spots/barring in the underwing could be helpful here. If Jan sees a female 
there frequently and thinks this is it, I suppose that's possible too - but 
that wouldn't be my first guess based on the photos.

Mike
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From: "Steve and Heather Rottenborn" <[[email protected]]>
To: <[[email protected]]>, "Bill Bousman" <[[email protected]]>
Subject: Re: Fwd: Re: [SBB] Merlin (_richardsoni_)
Date: Sat, 12 Nov 2005 19:26:55 -0800

After seeing Bill's message I e-mailed Rosalie for the photos.  My initial 
reaction was that the bird fits neatly in my impressions of a male 
columbarius.  I did a bit of research trying to see if there were any 
features in these photos that would border on definitive, but I can't say 
definitively that this bird is columbarius.  However, the coarseness (and 
extensive nature) of the markings on the underparts and the lack of really 
orangish tones to those markings suggest columbarius over richardsonii to 
me.  Most importantly, the bird just does not seem very pale to me.  The 
few birds I've seen that I've called richardsonii have immediately looked 
pale overall (upperparts, face, and underparts) to me, just as the few 
birds I've called suckleyi have immediately looked very dark.  Granted, 
there must be plenty of intermediate/intergrade birds, and my impressions 
of richardsonii and suckleyi are probably artificially narrow due to my 
relegation of intermediate-looking birds as "columbarius".  However, I 
couldn't support an ID of this bird as richardsonii.

Steve 

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