...breaking...I was doing some looking around the local birding sites whilst putting together information for the Merlin
post and I discovered that there have been numerous sightings of a bald eagle in the Mystic Lakes in Medford/Winchester.
There's quite a bit of buzz around this in the birding community because, apparently there haven't been a lot of eagles
around lately. When I last covered the eagles in
2005, I was told by someone that they had been coming there for several years. Anyway, this is great news and if we
are lucky it will hang around for awhile.
So much for my merlin.
Yesterday morning while I was doing some chores, I stepped out onto the
back porch. I hadn't gotten more than two steps when I froze in surprise - there was a large, unusual bird sitting on the
fence across the backyard. So I ran back inside, risking spooking the bird, and got my camera out. At an effective focal length
of 320mm, I was able to get a decent shot of this bird.
I am pretty sure that this is a
Merlin, but of course, I am always interested in
corrections. Anyway, I was pretty pleased at this point because I had a good enough image to at least identify the bird. When I'm in
a situation like this I get a little stressed. In the majority of cases where I run into the house to get the camera, whatever
I was interested in is gone by the time I'm back. In this case, I walked out of the back door calmly, made sure things didn't
slam about and then turned and took a picture.
That's kind of my style. First things first - get a decent image. Then you can back off and think about
things. Birds present an different challenge, though, because they are always moving. Well, for the most part. Sometimes they
do just sit there. Anyway, when a bird is moving around I tend to shoot slowly but continually to take advantage of different
postures.
Anyway, the bird flew away.
...but then it landed again on the bush next to the fence. Can you believe the feathers on this bird? Just
wild.
Do you think they had another
Merlin in mind when they named this falcon? He spent a lot of time looking at me. One thing I discovered about Merlins watching
this one - they can turn their neck around at least 180°. I have a picture of it. The bird sitting on the fence facing
away but with the head cranked back around staring at me.
Before I start thinking about owls, let me end with the power and beauty of this wonderful falcon.
