Bird Identification: CLOSED: Merlin?, 0 by rntx22

rntx22 wrote:
OK, I was watching the goldfinch on my front porch this AM when all the sudden a large light gray bird whizzed by and scared everyone away. I almost thought it was just a Eurasian collared dove because it was the same gray color and close to the same size (but just a teeny bit bigger). The way it flew by was NOT dove like - it was hawk like. I grabbed the camera and ran outside to try and find the bird, and then I spotted it in a tree. I tried to get into a good position to get a picture but it just flew further away to another tree. Finally I got close enough to attempt some pictures but of course I was shooting in to the sun and they turned out terrible.

The only thing I can think it may be is a merlin. I probably would have recognized an American Kestrel, and it was a little bigger than a kestrel. I edited and cropped the heck out of these photos to give ya'll more to go on than just a shadowy profile of the bird. It is strange how the back looks dark brown in these pics, but when I saw it fly by me it was light gray. Maybe it's just due to the poor picture quality, or maybe the one that flew by me was a male merlin, and this was a female? I think the odds of 2 merlins in the same day at the same place at the same time are pretty low!!!