At the time, I identified this bird as a Sharp-Shinned Hawk, however it turns out...I'm wrong. Shocking I know. Even more shocking, it's not the first time I've made a raptor ID error. They can be very hard to tell apart.
This is, in fact, a Merlin. This is good news for two reasons, because a) Merlins are rarer than Sharp-Shins, and b) they're falcons, a Toronto Wildlife first.
Huge hat tip and thanks to reader Sean Hollis for pointing this out. And perhaps I don't say it enough, but I'm always happy to hear from anyone who feels I've misidentified something.
