hi folks ... thought you might enjoy a few images of our "resident
Merlin" ... he hangs out in our tallest tree ... we first noted
him/her on February 2 and he's been a regular since then ... we see
him 3 or 4 nights a week in the same tree, he shows up just before
dusk (altho occasionally we see him mid afternoon and once we've seen
him early morning) ... sometimes he even brings his dinner with him
and proceeds to strip/gut/eat it from his perch !!! ... just before
dark he always takes off and heads to the NW ...

he's been very fun to watch ... the Crows however feel he's an
intruder and more than once they have chased him off his perch
... I'm attaching URLs to some images ... all except the digiscoped
one shot with a Fuji "superzoom" though a double-paned picture window ...

our Merlin ...
http://columbiariverimages.com/Birds/Images11Mar/vancouver_merlin_03-05-11.jpg

with tail out ...
http://columbiariverimages.com/Birds/Images11Feb/vancouver_merlin_02-03-11.jpg

digiscoped with a Sony point-and-shoot and my Nikon scope ...
http://columbiariverimages.com/Birds/Images11Feb/vancouver_merlin_digiscoped_02-22-11.jpg

being harrassed by a Crow ... (pretty grainy image, sun had set, I
overdid the ISO just a bit to compensate)
http://columbiariverimages.com/Birds/Images11Feb/vancouver_crow_harrassing_merlin_02-21-11.jpg

Enjoy,
Lyn
Vancouver, Washington



Lyn Topinka
http://EnglishRiverWebsite.com
http://ColumbiaRiverImages.com
http://RidgefieldBirds.com