I may have to change the name of this column to the raptor report. Great excitement on Chappaquiddick, first the Fowle family observed four merlins on August 14. Two were immature merlins. How did they know they were immature? One merlin was being fed by the adult female and the other was begging food and fluttering its wings. So the Chappaquiddick merlins fledged at least two birds!

Gus Ben David's newest feathered friend is seven weeks old, and subsists on a diet of rats and mice.

That may not sound very appetizing, but this baby is awfully cute. Mr. Ben David, the director of the Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary in Edgartown, is rearing a Eurasian eagle owl.

The creature, a male, is smaller than a football but in the months ahead, its size will eclipse any owl Mr. Ben David has ever cared for: Fully grown, the bird's wing span will extend six feet.