Merlin
Our Smallest Bird of Prey in the British Isles and this male can be half the size of a female, quite common in raptors, as it allows them to hunt different prey and able to live in smaller territories.
The male has a blue-grey back, ranging from almost black to silver-grey in different subspecies. Its underparts are buff- to orange-tinted and more or less heavily streaked with black to reddish brown.
The female and immature are brownish-grey to dark brown above, and whitish buff spotted with brown below. Besides a weak whitish super cilium and the faint dark malar strip which are barely recognizable in both the palest and the darkest bird.
The face of the Merlin is less strongly patterned than in most other falcons. Nestlings are covered in pale buff down feathers, shading to whitish on the belly.
Merlin
Our Smallest Bird of Prey in the British Isles and this male can be half the size of a female, quite common in raptors, as it allows them to hunt different prey and able to live in smaller territories.
The male has a blue-grey back, ranging from almost black to silver-grey in different subspecies. Its underparts are buff- to orange-tinted and more or less heavily streaked with black to reddish brown.
The female and immature are brownish-grey to dark brown above, and whitish buff spotted with brown below. Besides a weak whitish super cilium and the faint dark malar strip which are barely recognizable in both the palest and the darkest bird.
The face of the Merlin is less strongly patterned than in most other falcons. Nestlings are covered in pale buff down feathers, shading to whitish on the belly.