January 25 - Yard Siskins & a fly-by Merlin

This afternoon I was outside for a few minutes and heard the sounds of Pine Siskins. Several dozen of these birds perched in a neighbor's tree. I watched them for quite a bit, at times numbering a half-dozen & other times up to 2 dozen flying overhead.
credit: Chris Bohinski


While watching these birds I saw a small hawk fly-through and I thought it was a Sharp-Shinned Hawk, but the wings were pointy & this guy was flying like a mo-fo !
It was a Merlin. Another first for my yard !