Max Berlijn
 ·  18 January 2021  18:47

What is the catch?

George Sangster
 ·  18 January 2021  19:21, gewijzigd 19 January 2021  00:09

The North American and Palearctic Merlins are possibly different species. Their mtDNA differs considerably (more than e.g. Red-footed and Amur Falcons). See Fuchs et al. (2015) who treated them as different species:Falco columbarius and F. aesalon, respectively. A proper morphological comparison would be very welcome, as would an ID paper.

Fuchs, J, Johnson, JA & Mindell, DP 2015. Rapid diversification of falcons (Aves: Falconidae) due to expansion of open habitats in the Late Miocene. Mol. Phylogen. Evol. 82: 166-182.

Diedert Koppenol
 ·  18 January 2021  20:29

@Max, a local Chaffinch!

Arnoud B van den Berg
 ·  18 January 2021  22:38

Er is daar toch nooit een andere chaffinch dan de 'local' moreletti gezien?

Diedert Koppenol
 ·  19 January 2021  01:10

Zo de waard is. ;) Niet al mijn berichten hebben een dubbele betekenis, Arnoud. 😇 Gewoon, een Vink, dus.

Rubén Barone
 ·  19 August 2021  13:37

Hi.

Very interesting record and nice photo. Congratulations!

There is a recent publication about the record of a Taiga Merlin in Caithness (Scotland), seen in February 2018:

O'HANLON, N. & R. HUGHES (2021): "Taiga Merlin" in Caithness: new to Britain. British Birds 114: 30-33. 

For the moment there are no records of this nearctic taxon in the Canary Islands, the Cape Verdes or Madeira. 

Best regards.