After that I saw one three more times—each of those sightings involved a fleeting look as the bird flew by. A record is kept of rare bird sightings in our area; I was surprised when my sighting and that of my friends were not listed. A reviewer of bird sightings informed me: “Merlin is not flagged as a rare bird from September 1 through January 14 [in our area]. If you see it again it will be rare.”I have not seen one again but when other people did during the past 10 days, their sightings were recorded on the rare bird alert. Five minutes later, after peering down intently, the merlin suddenly dropped down in pursuit of a bird it had spotted below.

Source: The Local January 24, 2023 12:03 UTC