9.25-inch Merlin
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This 9.25-inch Merlin carving was hand-crafted from solid Basswood. The Adult male Merlin is gray-blue above. Females and juveniles are usually dark brown. Merlins lack the strong facial markings and russet upper-parts of Kestrels, and have broader wings than the American Kestrel. The plumage varies geographically from the very dark race, suckleyi of the Pacific Northwest to the pale richardsonii that breeds on the northern great Plains from southern Canada to the northern United States. A few suckleyi winter in southern California. This race has dark cheeks and narrow, incomplete tail bands. All richardsonii have pale cheeks; the male is paler blue-gray above; the female and juvenile are pale brown, the latter with wide, pale tail bands. Winters in the southern Great Plains as well as a few of the Great Basin and Pacific states.
Reference
National Geographic Field Guide To The Birds of North America, Fifth Edition, Page 138
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