Belize Biodiversity Information System

   Wildlife Conservation Society

   Ministry of Natural Resources' Land Information Centre

   01/19/98



  NAME -                 Merlin

  FAMILY -               Falconidae
  SCIENTIFIC NAME -      Falco columbarius

  REFERENCES - 18 and 1

  National abundance, Conservation or Economic Status    Reference

  Winter visitor - migrant.                                 19
  Apparently secure in Belize                               17
  Rare: low density, unlikely to be seen, few localities    17
  PIF-1 Pri. 7, winters s. Mexican border                   16
  PIF Trend: Insufficient Data                              16
  Transient, present briefly as migrant.                     3
  U.S. Migratory Bird Treaty                                14
  

  District                                                     Reference

  Belize                                                               4
  Cayo                                                                 4
  Orange Walk                                                          9
  

  Administrative Unit                  Occurrence          Temporal    Reference

  Rio Bravo Conservation Area                                                10
  Gallon Jug                                                                  9
  Half Moon Caye Natural Monument                                            12
  Half Moon Caye Natural Monument                                             8
  Community Baboon Sanctuary                                                 11
  Private land, see comments                                                 13
  Government land                       Sighting             Wet season       7
  

  Hydrologic Association         Reference

  Belize River                        11
  

  Elevation        Reference

  1-200 m              13
  1-200 m              15
  201-400 m            13
  

  1:50,000 Quadrangle                   Reference

  17 30' to 17 45'; 89 00' to 89 15'           9
  17 30' to 17 45'; 88 30' to 88 45'          11
  17 30' to 17 45'; 88 10' to 88 30'          15
  17 30' to 17 45'; 88 10' to 88 30'           4
  17 15' to 17 30'; 88 30' to 88 45'          13
  17 15' to 17 30'; 88 30' to 88 45'          15
  17 15' to 17 30'; 88 30' to 88 45'           5
  17 15' to 17 30'; 88 10' to 88 30'           5
  17 00' to 17 15'; 88 45' to 89 00'          15
  17 00' to 17 15'; 88 45' to 89 00'           4
  17 00' to 17 15'; 88 30' to 88 45'          15
  17 00' to 17 15'; 88 30' to 88 45'           4
  17 00' to 17 15'; 88 00' to 88 10'           6
  16 45' to 17 00'; 88 15' to 88 30'          13
  17 00' to 17 15'; 87 30' to 87 45'          12
  17 45' to 18 00'; 89 00' to 89 15'          10
  

  Holdridge Life Zone                   Reference

  Tropical moist-transition to Subtropical    15
  Tropical moist-transition to Subtropical    13
  Subtropical moist                           13
  Subtropical moist                           11
  Marine                                      12
  

  General Distribution Comments

  19* Rare northern semideciduous moist forest.
      Rare Mtn. Pine Ridge/savannas on poor soil.
      Rare coastal/low-lands savannas, inc. marshy areas.
      Rare mangroves lowlands & coastal beaches.
      Uncommon cayes inc. Ambergris.
  7* Flower's Bank
  3* Transient, rare in coastal savannas, mangroves and beaches along the
     coast of the mainland, uncommon in Cayes inc. Ambergris Cay.

  References

  1  A.O.U. 1983. Checklist of North American Birds. 6th Ed.
  
  2  A.O.U. 1985, 1987, 1989. 35th-37th Supplements.
  
  3  Wood, D.S.,R. C. Leberman, and D. Weyer. 1986. Checklist of Birds of
     Belize. Carnegie Museum of Natural History Special Publication 12.
  
  4  Miller, B. W., 1994. Belize Christmas Bird Counts, Twenty Year Summary.
     in prep.
  
  5  Weyer, D. 1984. Diurnal Birds of Prey of Belize. The Hawk Trust. Vol. 14
     pp.23 - 39.
  
  6  Miller, B. 1994. Summary of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Bird
     Banding Laboratory DATA. in prep.
  
  7  McDuffie, P. 1993. Personal Bird List for Belize: September 1, 1989 -
     December 15, 1993.  Unpublished list.
  
  8  Russell, S. M. 1964. A Distributional Study of the Birds of British
     Honduras.  Ornithological Monographs No. 1, A.O.U.
  
  9  Miller, B., C. Miller. 1994. A working checklist of the birds of Gallon
     Jug.  Unpublished list.
  
  10 Anon. 1994 (August). Working Checklist, Birds of Rio Bravo Conservation
     Management Area.  Unpublished list.
  
  11 James, D., J. Bider. 1993. Bird List: Community Baboon Sanctuary, 1989-
     1993 (derived from banding & census data, field notes). Unpublished data
  
  12 Miller, C. M., B. W. Miller. 1995. Avian Surveys: Half Moon Caye Natural
     Monument.  Unpublished report for Belize Audubon Society.
  
  13 Robbins, Chandler. 1996.  U.S.F.& Wildlife Service Wintering Bird
     Surveys for Belize.  Unpublished data provided by C. Robbins.
  
  14 Title 50 Code of Federal Regulations, Subchapter B., Part 10.13: List
     of Migratory Birds.  U.S. Government Printing Office: 1985 0-488-794.
     (Lists all species of migratory birds protected by the Migratory Bird
     Treaty Act (16 U.S.C. 703-711).
  
  15 Miller, B. W. 1997. Belize Christmas Bird Count Summary 1970-1995.
     Data from American Birds Vol. 28-50 including 1973-1996.
  
  16 Working Group, Partners in Flight. 1992. Needs Assessment: Monitoring
     Migratory Birds. Report for Neotropical Migratory Bird Program
  
  17 Miller, B.W., C.M. Miller. 1997. Avian Risk Assessment for Belize,
     Species at Risk and of Conservation Concern.  Report to Programme for
     Belize/TNC Wings of America Program.
  
  18 A.O.U. 1997. Forty-first Supplement to the American Ornithologists'
     Union Check-list of North American Birds. The Auk. 114 (3):542-552.
  
  19 Garcia, J., S. Matola, M. Meadows, and C. Wright. 1994. A Checklist of
     the Birds of Belize. WWF-US. 35p.