Habitat use and subspecific status of Merlins, Falco columbarius, wintering in central Utah

Most ornithological literature for Utah reports the status of the Merlin (F alco columbarius) as rare or scarce. Only the most recently published check lists (Behle and Perry 1975, Behle et al.1985) record it as uncommon. Likew ise, a 1998 printed checklist (Utah Ornithological Society 1998) lists it a s uncommon. Also misrepresented in the literature are the status and distri bution of the 3 rather distinct subspecies, each of which occupies dissimil ar habitats during the breeding season. We made random observations of Merl ins in northern Utah beginning in the 1950s and then studied them continuou sly between 1992 and. 1997 in Utah County, Utah. During the 1992-1997 perio d, we were able to clearly allocate 95 males and 76 females to subspecies, including within our count 58 falcons trapped (some fitted with radio telem etry). The winter habitat in which they occurred was categorized as either urban (mainly dense residential area) or rural (agricultural lands, dairy f arms, or scattered homes). There was a statistically significant (chi(2) < 0.001) difference in habitat use, with the boreal forest-breeding F. c. col umbarius frequenting urban areas 68% of the time, and prairie parkland-bree ding F. c. richardsonii frequenting rural habitats 78% of the time.