The Merlin (Falco columbarius) is a small, agile falcon in the order Falconiformes and family Falconidae. It is a bird of open landscapes, favoring grasslands, seashores, sand dunes, marshlands, steppes, and deserts. While it rarely lives in forested areas, it frequently breeds in coniferous forests in the Northern Hemisphere. Its flight is distinctive: fast, with steady wingbeats, often skimming low in a zigzag pattern, and it seldom soars. This guide synthesizes current taxonomic data and natural history accounts to help birders identify and ethically observe this species.
Learn to identify
Adult male Merlin of the pale prairie form, photographed near Cochrane, Alberta.
Learning lesson · openly licensed photographs, labelled by BirdBot; labels checked against the cited sources and approved by AI
Yellow cere: dark eye; face only weakly patterned. Blue-grey back: males only; females and young are brown. Streaked underparts: all Merlins are streaked below. Black tail tip, white edge: tail crossed by bands; pale on light males. A plain-faced falcon, streaked below, with a banded tail.
Colour varies a lot: from pale prairie birds to blackish coastal ones.
Sources: Audubon Guide to North American Birds: Merlin · Wikipedia: Merlin (bird) (revision 1380899569)
Photo: Just a Prairie Boy from Calgary, AB, Canada, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; labels added by BirdBot.
At a glance, the Merlin is a compact falcon where sex determines the dominant color palette. Males present a cool, metallic impression, typically slaty blue or purplish-brown above, contrasted by a clean white throat and a tail barred in dark bands with a white tip. Females and young birds appear warmer and darker, with brown upperparts and a tail marked by distinct yellowish bars. In the field, the male’s sleek, blue-grey back and the female’s browner, more heavily patterned appearance are the primary visual cues for quick identification.
Subspecies variation exists, but field identification often relies on the general male/female distinction above. For example, Richardson's Merlins (F. c. richardsoni) are lighter overall with tails marked by five dark and six white bands, while Bendire's Merlins (F. c. bendirei) have lighter upperparts and tails with three white bars. These distinctions require careful observation and are best confirmed with reference materials. Note that "Pigeon Hawk" is a historical synonym for the Merlin, not a distinct species, and appears in older literature such as Reed (1916).
Merlins are Holarctic birds. According to AviList v2026, they breed from Iceland and the Faroe Islands to Sakhalin, in the mountains and steppes of central Asia, and in northern North America southward to the northern tier of U.S. states. They winter southward to northern Africa, tropical Asia, and northern South America.
Within this broad range, they strongly prefer open country. In North America, specific subspecies occupy distinct breeding zones: F. c. columbarius breeds in eastern Canada to the eastern border of the Great Plains; F. c. richardsoni breeds in the Great Plains from southern Alberta and Saskatchewan to northern Montana and North Dakota; and F. c. bendirei breeds in northwestern Alaska to northern Saskatchewan and into northern California.
Merlins are solitary except during the mating season. Their flight is often compared to that of a swallow: fast, with steady wingbeats, and frequently skimming low in a zigzagging pattern over the ground. They seldom soar, which helps distinguish them from larger hawks that rely more on thermal soaring.
During the breeding season, males and females share duties. The female remains on the nest during incubation while the male hunts, often leaving prey nearby for her to retrieve. As the young grow, both parents share hunting duties. Once the young leave the nest, the pair returns to a solitary lifestyle.
Merlins prey mainly on small birds of the ground and low vegetation. Their diet includes larks, sparrows, finches, and ptarmigans or grouse. Insects, small mammals, lizards, and snakes also make up a portion of their diet. In North America, dragonflies are occasionally taken. The relative proportions of their diet are approximately 80% birds, 5% mammals, and 15% insects.
Merlins nest in ground scrapes located in dense vegetation in open country and grasslands. In regions with sand dunes, dune grasses may be used to create the nest. In wooded areas, they may use scrapes but prefer empty crow nests. Males typically arrive at the breeding area before females and often return to the same general area year after year, though not necessarily the exact same site.
Clutches usually contain four to six eggs, laid at two-day intervals. The eggs are light buff white with rich chestnut-brown, purple, and chocolate blotchings. Incubation lasts 25–32 days, with the female as the main incubator. Chicks fledge at 25–30 days after hatching and remain near the nest for several weeks before migrating southward.
The Merlin’s call is a series of sharp, repetitive sounds, often described as "ki-ki-ki-ki-kee." This vocalization can be a useful field cue, especially when combined with the bird’s distinctive low, fast flight.
The Merlin is listed as Least Concern (LC) in the IUCN Red List, as recorded in AviList v2026. This global status reflects its wide distribution, though the Animal Diversity Web account notes it is "widely distributed, but nowhere common." While the species is not globally threatened, local populations can be vulnerable to habitat loss from expanding human development. Regional conservation listings and protections may vary by location, so birders should consult local wildlife agencies for specific legal statuses and abundance data in their area.
Observing Merlins ethically requires patience and respect for their habitat. Here are practical tips for finding and observing them:
A concrete field exercise: Visit a coastal dune or open grassland area during the day. Sit quietly and scan the horizon for small, fast-moving birds. When you spot a bird skimming low in a zigzag pattern, use your binoculars to check for the slaty blue upperparts of a male or the dark brown upperparts of a female. Listen for the sharp call to confirm the identification. Record your observation, noting the time, location, and any specific field marks you observed.
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