Merlin? or Kestrel?

Last Saturday, I drove my mom up to Perley Swett's old place.  The Hermit of Taylor Pond is what he called himself.  There was a brief talk at the home, followed by tours of Perley's house, the new Barn House, Perley's grave, and Taylor Pond.  The weather was perfect and one of the rare sunny days this summer.   As we drove up the long driveway to Perley's we noticed a small falcon perched in a branch just above the road.  First I thought it might be a Peregrine, because he seemed too big to be a Kestrel.  But now as I look at the picture, I'm wondering if this bird isn't a Merlin, a.k.a. Marsh Hawk.  He is a juvenile falcon at any rate.  We could have stopped to watch him for several minutes, but believe it or not, we were holding up traffic!  Way out there in the woods.  I couldn't believe it.  

I've written about Perley Swett's place before, so  I won't go into it again.  But I will say, that having been inside the "Shinbone Shack", the shinbones that had been set into the hearth, are not Moose bones.  The bones are much too short, and I believe they are really human tibia.....my opinion.   The bones have been removed, but a well defined pattern remains.

My Evvy has been battling a nasty infected toe the last week, so we have been taking much shorter walks lately.  The toe is much better now, so I have allowed her off her lead to run and swim.  Evvy is so much happier.   And as for me, I'm glad because we can venture away from the pavement and return to the woods I love.   I've always found the biggest natural treasures are found away from the trail.  Each time we leave the trail, we see something we might otherwise not see.  Yesterday for example, I saw an Indigo Bunting along a field, at woods edge.   I happened upon a monster Oak that had fallen earlier in the spring.  I imagined how majestic the big old Oak must have been.  Now the tree had become a maze of burrows, and piles of the best humus for plants.  I'm tempted to go back there and collect some for my house plants! Among the roots I pictured a perfect place for a den of some kind, maybe for a fox, or skunk.

The enormity of the old relic was awesome at first glance.  But like a big kid, I had to climb all over it.  It was like a jungle gym.....in the jungle!