{"id":121267,"date":"2024-02-15T04:48:47","date_gmt":"2024-02-15T11:48:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=121267"},"modified":"2024-02-15T04:48:47","modified_gmt":"2024-02-15T11:48:47","slug":"surprise-merlin-photos-two-merlins-in-a-pear-tree","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/02\/15\/surprise-merlin-photos-two-merlins-in-a-pear-tree\/","title":{"rendered":"Surprise Merlin Photos – Two Merlins In A Pear Tree"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was at one of my local ponds yesterday morning when a gorgeous adult female Merlin flew in and landed on a tree not far from where I stood behind my tripod. I’d only been at the pond about five minutes when she arrived.<\/p>\n

\"FemaleFemale Merlin perched in a pear tree \u2013 Nikon D500, tripod mounted, f9, 1\/1250, ISO 500, +1.0 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The second I was able to get her in focus and adjust my exposure, I started to photograph the small, striking falcon. There were clouds in the sky behind her, and I wanted my exposure to be perfect.<\/p>\n

\"FemaleFemale Merlin of the Taiga subspecies \u2013 Nikon D500, tripod mounted, f9, 1\/640, ISO 500, +2.0 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I slowly moved my tripod and attached camera closer to where the Merlin was perched on a Bradford Pear tree.<\/p>\n

Usually, I see the Prairie subspecies of Merlins in northern Utah, but this female is from the slightly darker Taiga subspecies.<\/p>\n

\"FemaleFemale Merlin with her eye on me \u2013 Nikon D500, tripod mounted, f9, 1\/800, ISO 500, +1.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

When I took this photo, I was as close to the Merlin as I dared to get. Any closer, and I would have been clipping her tail in most of my images.<\/p>\n

\"MerlinMerlin female on a pear tree \u2013 Nikon D500, tripod mounted, f9, 1\/800, ISO 500, +1.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I was thrilled to have this Merlin in my viewfinder. Merlins don’t breed in northern Utah, which means I usually only find them during the coldest months of the year.<\/p>\n

I wasn’t prepared at all for what would happen next.<\/p>\n

\"FemaleFemale Merlin after bumping another Merlin off of this tree \u2013 Nikon D500, tripod mounted, f9, 1\/640, ISO 500, +1.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I had taken my eye away from my viewfinder because some geese were flying into the pond, and I wanted to check them out. When I started to focus on the Merlin again, a second Merlin flew in, bumped the first Merlin off her perch, and took the perch over!<\/p>\n

Sure, I missed the second falcon flying in, but how awesome was it to have two Merlins in one day? On the same exact perch?<\/p>\n

\"MerlinMerlin adult female in winter \u2013 Nikon D500, tripod mounted, f9, 1\/500, ISO 500, +2.0 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Pretty freaking awesome! The only thing that would have been more awesome is having three Merlins in my viewfinder on one day!<\/p>\n

The second female Merlin seemed a bit larger than the first or filled the frame more, so I backed myself and my tripod up a few feet.<\/p>\n

\"SternStern looking female Merlin \u2013 Nikon D500, tripod mounted, f9, 1\/400, ISO 500, +2.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

By the time I took this image, I could see a little bit of blue sky through the clouds behind the falcon. She seemed to have her eyes on something in the distance and paid very little attention to me standing behind my tripod.<\/p>\n

\"UrbanUrban adult female Merlin \u2013 Nikon D500, tripod mounted, f9, 1\/400, ISO 500, +2.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I had these gorgeous female Merlins<\/span><\/a> in my viewfinder for about eight minutes, during which time I took 426 photos of both birds.<\/p>\n

They were both wondrous and magical. Merlin Magic.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Merlin photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was at one of my local ponds yesterday morning when a gorgeous adult female Merlin flew in and landed on a tree not far from where I stood behind my tripod.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":121239,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,1182,709,26],"tags":[4004,2663,13896,6577,13897,4101,4297,14725,4078,4279,4070,4296,4295,4104,13898,153,4018,5422,14724,4427,8018,373],"class_list":["post-121267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-merlins","category-salt-lake-county-utah","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-bradford-pear","tag-branches","tag-callery-pear","tag-clouds","tag-falco-columbarius","tag-falco-columbarius-columbarius","tag-falcon","tag-falcons","tag-female","tag-merlin","tag-merlins","tag-perched","tag-pyrus-calleryana","tag-raptors","tag-sky","tag-subspecies","tag-taiga","tag-tree","tag-urban","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/merlin-taiga-adult-female-mia-mcpherson-8009.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-vxV","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":123203,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/03\/08\/female-merlin-on-international-womens-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":121267,"position":0},"title":"Female Merlin On International Women’s Day","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 8, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"I found and photographed this female Merlin at my local pond last month, and she seemed to be the perfect bird for me to share on International Women's Day.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Urban Merlin in a pear tree, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/merlin-winter-urban-mia-mcpherson-8207.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/merlin-winter-urban-mia-mcpherson-8207.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/merlin-winter-urban-mia-mcpherson-8207.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4225,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/01\/27\/merlin-perched-in-a-tree-friday-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":121267,"position":1},"title":"Merlin Perched In A Tree ~ Friday Photos","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 27, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Merlins are winter visitors in the Salt Lake Valley so I have just a few more weeks to attempt photographing them. Merlins are used to be called \"pigeon hawks\" because their shape and flight patterns are similar to pigeons.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"High key Merlin, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/merlin-mia-mcpherson-8382.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/merlin-mia-mcpherson-8382.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/merlin-mia-mcpherson-8382.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/merlin-mia-mcpherson-8382.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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Montana","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/merlin-perched-prey-mia-mcpherson-8255.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/merlin-perched-prey-mia-mcpherson-8255.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/merlin-perched-prey-mia-mcpherson-8255.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/merlin-perched-prey-mia-mcpherson-8255.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":15821,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/09\/13\/merlin-magic\/","url_meta":{"origin":121267,"position":3},"title":"Merlin Magic","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 13, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Just a short Merlin post today from my Montana trip, a teaser for the images I will soon be posting.","rel":"","context":"In "Beaverhead County"","block_context":{"text":"Beaverhead County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/montana\/beaverhead-county-montana\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Perched Merlin, Centennial Valley, Beaverhead County, Montana","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/merlin-low-light-thumbnail-mia-mcpherson-6640.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/merlin-low-light-thumbnail-mia-mcpherson-6640.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/merlin-low-light-thumbnail-mia-mcpherson-6640.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 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2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Any time I can see and photograph two falcon species in a single day is a great day and yesterday I photographed a Prairie Merlin and several American Kestrels.","rel":"","context":"In "American Kestrels"","block_context":{"text":"American Kestrels","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/falcons\/american-kestrel\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Female Prairie Merlin perched in a tree, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/merlin-female-adult-perched-mia-mcpherson-2200.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/merlin-female-adult-perched-mia-mcpherson-2200.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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