Where do merlins live?

The Merlin has a very broad distribution. They mostly live in the northern hemisphere, in places such as Eurasia, Canada, and the USA. Some population of the Merlin population migrates in the winter to avoid the cold temperatures. Communities from the Taiga biome can migrate as far as South America. In the UK Merlin populations tend to migrate to South England and the coast. The Merlin habitats can be a variety of environments like woodland with rivers, moorland (small bushes and trees) and coastal areas. The Merlin spends a lot of time either sat on short fences, rocks or lows on the ground. Merlin’s are terrestrial, use large hunting grounds and live in the same range each year. With a vast geographic distribution comes high variation in looks and habits. For example, the length of both the tail and wingspan of merlin differ significantly between Merlins of the Prairie-parkland and those that habit the coastal forest. The distribution also affects feather coloring and banding. Prairie-parkland produces the lightest feathers whereas, the coastal areas the Merlin have darker plumages, in both males and females. The number of black bands on the tail also correlate with geographic variation.