A Merlin Falco columbarius at the southern fringe of its Asian wintering range in Madhya Pradesh, India

Mandar Tijare

The Merlin Falco columbarius is a small falcon considered an uncommon winter visitor to northwestern India, with records from the central part of the country being extremely scarce and the species often regarded as accidental in peninsular India. Here, I report a rare, well-documented observation of a Merlin from Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, in central India. The bird was observed and photographed at Bhoj Wetland, exhibiting behaviours consistent with short-term wintering, such as sustained presence, foraging habitat use, and roosting. To contextualize this sighting, I analysed Merlin reporting frequencies along Asian flyways using eBird data. The analysis reveals that Bhopal lies south of 98.73% of Asian winter records, making this the first record for the state, the southeastern-most record for India, and one of the southernmost for the continent. The habitat -- a wetland-edge mosaic of agriculture and open woodland -- aligns with the known wintering ecology of Merlin and resembles other rare, low-latitude records across Asia. While vagrancy cannot be ruled out, the observation falls within the known migratory capacity of the specie and suggests that inland wetlands in central India may occasionally support overwintering Merlins. This record underscores critical gaps in understanding the non-breeding ecology of Merlins in Asia, highlights the potential but understudied role of Indian wetlands for migratory raptors, and emphasizes the need for telemetry studies and ecological niche modelling to clarify migration patterns and site fidelity in the region.