No matter how long one has been birding, there are always difficult birds to challenge one's identification skills. Earlier this month, I saw this falcon at the coast in an area where Kestrel is abundant so that was my initial reaction. As I got closer, however, the small size and dark colouration had me convinced it was a Merlin instead so I took a few photo's to make sure. Merlin is a bird I get to see less than annually and so have had very little practise with. When the bird took off, its size and back colouration confirmed my initial reaction; it just appeared small since I don't get to see Kestrels sitting on the ground very often. As if to confirm how much I still have to learn, I also convinced myself this dragonfly was a scarce Moustached Darter since I couldn't see the typical thorax stripes of the much commoner Common Darter yet that is what it turned out to be.
