Yesterday (12/29) on a cold evening with temps in the mid-teens I only saw two Merlins at Glendale Cemetery in Des Moines. One sat atop a spruce in Block 21 for at least 39 minutes, while another appeared briefly in the scragly ash in Block G at 5:04 pm, well after sunset (ss 4:53 pm). By contrast, tonight (12/30) there were six Merlins present at the same time from about 4:40 to 4:45 pm (ss 4:54), a high for the season. There were 2 in separate English oaks in Block 37, one atop a spruce in the SW corner of Masonic Block E, one atop the spruce in the NE corner of Block 21, one in the big burr oak in Block H, and one in the Amur cork tree in the SW corner of Block 27. Four stayed around until about 4:55 pm.
