Jack Merlin

The term "Jack" is used for a male Merlin. This beautiful jack is of the species Falco Columbarius Richardsoni. We were very fortunate to have this guy hanging out in a localized area hunting birds for about a week. I took this over the Thanksgiving weekend when a friend, Arash Hazeghi, was staying with me for a few days to shoot raptors. We saw this jack eating a bird in the late afternoon so got out of the car and slowly walked towards him as he ate this bird. We only moved when his head was down while eating. We were amazed at how close he let us get to him. I hope you like it. 1DX---840mm---f9---ss1/2000---ISO640---HH@3:40pm---35% crop Thanks as always for looking and for your input. I appreciate it. David

Nice light and nice shot of this beautiful raptor. Usually when eating they are easy to get close to. Here it is not hard to get about within 10 meters of them when they are eating.

Hi Dave, love the light and IQ in this, and I do like the head turn towards you. Good DOF on the Merlin, tack sharp, and the proof of his meal with the dangling legs tells your story very well. Did I mention what a killer BG.

Another beautiful raptor shot.
I really like the dangling legs of the bird. Almost looks like there is a band on the prey's leg?
Great look back pose and the light and BG are stunning.
Wish we had more of that kind of light in Nova Scotia.
Image is excellent as is but I could see a version where I might be tempted to trim the branch directly below the pantaloons.
Gail

Thanks everyone for the comments.

Gail, No it isn't banded, that's just some plant matter stuck to it's leg. Good idea on the branch. If I print it I will do that. Thanks as always for your insight.

The light and look back pose are awesome. For me the dangling feet are what raise the bar!

Great looking raptor, excellent shot of it, David. Love the pose and background and the action part.

Killer cool. Super sharp with a great BKGR. Do you know what it was eating? a

Thanks Marina & Karl. I appreciate your comments.

Thanks Arthur. Funny you asked because I was trying to ID the bird he was eating with a few friends. He was almost done with plucking when we found him and I only got one tail feather left in the frame when we first started shooting. The feather looked like the outermost tail feather and it was black with a little white on the edge.
Looking at the feather, and the thin black legs, and the species of birds in my area, I ascertained that it was a Black Phoebe?
Thanks as always for your input.

Hey David, Thanks. You gotta love those bird photography miracles.... a

I like the look back pose, IQ, DOF, BG, prey and composition. Excellent image David!