Merlin with kill

[Allen Sklar]

Assateague Island. I see the falcons almost every day but I have never shot one with a kill.


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D300s F10 200 ISO 200mm

[Mike Landwehr]

Allen, from an interest standpoint, I would rate this image highly. You caught your subject at a very poignant moment, with the unfortunent prey's little legs pointing to the sky! The sand makes a fine background, and I like the big rock, which I assume was serving as a perch for the merlin. The merlin just needed to bank to its right, and provide you with a better light angle and head angle. Since your subject is there frequently, try to catch him on a day when you have both the sun and the wind to your back.

[Arthur Morris]

Yes, with wind against sun you were dead in the water before you set sail.... What is the date on this one? Do you know the prey item?

Some NIK Detail Extractor would help but strong off angle light is pretty much fatal here.

ps: I am thinking Least Sandpiper....

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Feathers in the mouth, prey in tow - oh man if this had been flying toward you, I'd have fallen off my chair.
Did you get any nice shots when perched?
What was your SS? With f10 and iso 200, it seem like you were concentrating more on perched shots? I'd trade those for higher SS (if needed) in such a situation in preparation for flight.
I'd give this image some CW rotation.
Looking forward to more and TFS!

[Shawn Zierman]

I like the wider angle of view and the story being told in the image. The prey has some pretty long hind claws to be a sandpiper imo...looks more like some type of song bird in that regards, though I would not be able to guess which one...Would be interested to know if you could disclose the ID...Beautiful richly plumed Merlin BTW.

[Arthur Morris]

I like the wider angle of view and the story being told in the image. The prey has some pretty long hind claws to be a sandpiper imo...looks more like some type of song bird in that regards, though I would not be able to guess which one...Would be interested to know if you could disclose the ID...Beautiful richly plumed Merlin BTW.

Hi Shawn, What songbird that lives on the beach has yellow legs?

Allen-- please go back to the full sized TIFF and post a very tight crop of the prey.

ps: to Shawn: in retrospect, I think that you are correct. I took a closer look at the jpeg in PS. The legs are flesh colored. I am thinking possibly Savannah Sparrow....

[Allen Sklar]

Thanks for the comments. Sidharth the posted image was at 1/1250...and yes I was concentrating on a perched shot. I was driving south along the edge of the ocean when I saw the Merlin up ahead sitting on a chunk of primordial marsh washed up from a recent storm. In these situations stopping the vehicle guarantees a flush, so I coasted past the bird shooting from the drivers seat out the passenger window. After the bird flew it perched again north of my position. I turned around and slowly approached again this time more comfortably shooting from my window side and with the sun at my back. I got some decent perched shots, but the prey was obscured. Perhaps this other in flight shot (100 percent crop) may be more helpful in ID.

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[Arthur Morris]

Thanks. Love the perched shot. Still no help on the prey item. I'd need to see a really tight crop from the optimized TIFF, just the bird.

I'd love to know what time the image in Pane 1 was made and what time the perched image was made.... The sun angle seems much better in the latter....

[Allen Sklar]

In flight 9:59:30 Perched 10:01:13 The sun angle is better as my my position is on south side of the bird in the perched image. I'm sorry, I should have noted the first posted image was a fifty percent crop, not much left to work with there.

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[Grace Scalzo]

That one of the merlin perched on the mound with his prey is my fav, nice work....you could compose it better.

[Arthur Morris]

In flight 9:59:30 Perched 10:01:13 The sun angle is better as my my position is on south side of the bird in the perched image. I'm sorry, I should have noted the first posted image was a fifty percent crop, not much left to work with there.



Thanks on all counts. I can see now that the yellow that I thought might indicate Savannah Sparrow was actually the bird's left leg :). So the definitive answer is: I have no clue but it might be a sparrow :).

A way, way tighter crop might help.

[arash_hazeghi]

what a dram to witness, the image in pane #7 is great, I would move him a bit off centered. Too bad the conditions were not right for flight images.

TFS

[Shawn Zierman]

Love the head angle and eye contact on the perched shot! The prey bird is still a mystery to me, but I am leaning towards sparrow as well. We can see a wooded area in the background, so there's no reason to necessarily believe the Merlin did not snatch the bird out of the woods then land on the rock perch to eat the bird. The prey bird looks even a little more odd to me because the tail is missing....anway, what about white throated sparrow? The streaking on the back and the cleaner white belly is leading me in that direction...Anyway, this is a cool series of images, and I appreciate the conversation, as well as, most importantly, Allan's willingness to post the other images.