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Mori D, Vyas R, Dadhich G. Dietary of Merlin Falco columbarius Linnaeus at winter foraging grounds in Western India. JAD 2024; 6 (2)
URL: http://jad.lu.ac.ir/article-1-443-fa.html

The Merlin (Falco columbarius-Lest Concern) is a small-sized falcon widely distributed across Europe, Asia, and North America. Merlin falcons are winter visitors in north India. It occurs from an arid area from Gujarat to far northeast Arunachal Pradesh. Here, we present the details of Merlin's diet on winter foraging grounds in Gujarat and Rajasthan, Western India, based on a combination of direct observationsfrom 2009 to 2023 and secondary data extracted from various social platforms. A total of 99 hunting events of Merlin with their prey bird were collected from the study areas, including 39 data generated from direct observation of falcon hunting and 60 images of falcons with prey items acquired from various electronic media. The highest 72 falcon hunting events were noted from Gujarat, and the lowest 28 hunting observations were noted from Rajasthan.