Mike Boatwright called me about noon today to tell me that he was looking at a
Merlin near the intersection of Isaac Walton Rd and Kentmoor Farm Rd in Madison
Heights (Amherst County). Although the bird flew while I was talking to him, I
hurriedly drove over. When I got there he had not been able to relocate it. I
had called Jim Elder who joined me; we drove around the area for an hour
without finding the bird. Twenty minutes after Jim left, I stopped to look at a
group of soaring Common Ravens (21 ravens which is a new peak count for the
Lynchburg area and the Piedmont) and what should fly across in front of me but
a Merlin. It was nearly two hours after Mike's sighting and I was at the other
end of Kentmoor Rd so who knows if this was the same bird!
Other birds of note: a single American Tree Sparrow (very early for the
Piedmont and Lynchburg as expected 10 Nov and 15 Nov, respectively) and 12 Tree
Swallows (late by one day in the Lynchburg area); both of these species were
seen from on Galts Mill Rd.
Rexanne Bruno
Lynchburg, VA
