It was a case of,...'O, be still my beating heart' !!! I had my camera in
hand as I had been taking photos, both inside and out of the house, much of
the morning. So, when this beauty dropped onto the support for one of my
feeders, I was actually prepared! Though still stunned by the sight of a
Merlin within 15' of me! And then, it stayed there, ignoring the
neighbours, 25-30' away, who were, oblivious to its presence. From the
time I started taking pics, to the point when a less wary (junco) bird
ventured out & the merlin nailed it, was about 3+ minutes. In hindsight, I
could have turned the camera to record, but there was no way to know that
it was working the yard. It did come back in the late part of the day,
at 6pm, when I was still out gardening, but the opposite side, west, which
was still incredible. Not having the bins or that good of eyesight, it
took some hard looking and careful maneuvers to determine that it was the
same bird. Wow!
All this was after Saturday's great birding with David Cook of Seattle,
when we got the target bird, Sage Grouse, lekking on SR 172, in E. WA.
Plus, our 'gravy' birds, 2 male Northern Harriers (close looks), Townsends
Solitaire, pair of Western.Bluebirds, checking out a nest box on Ferry
Canyon Rd & many other fine sightings.
And, going to the Texas Gulf Coast is still to come! Birding is such
fun!
Laurel Parshall/Gig Harbor (Key Peninsula, really)
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