{"id":28246,"date":"2015-09-13T03:50:17","date_gmt":"2015-09-13T09:50:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=28246"},"modified":"2024-02-15T06:27:44","modified_gmt":"2024-02-15T13:27:44","slug":"a-centennial-valley-merlin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/09\/13\/a-centennial-valley-merlin\/","title":{"rendered":"Centennial Valley Merlin"},"content":{"rendered":"

I don’t often have the opportunity to photograph Merlins so I was plenty excited to find one yesterday on the South Valley Road in the Centennial Valley that stuck around for a bit! Not only did the Merlin stick around it also was in good light with a nice background and on a weathered fence post.<\/p>\n

\"CentennialCentennial Valley Merlin – Nikon D810, f6.3, 1\/1600, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

I’d really prefer that my subjects be on natural perches but will willingly accept old or weathered man made perches. This Centennial Valley Merlin moved to several different perches while I photographed it and I suspect that in the future I will post some of those images too.<\/p>\n

\"Merlin Merlin and its prey – Nikon D810, f6.3, 1\/2500, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

Later in the morning on the way back to Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge I had another opportunity with a Merlin only this time it had prey! I suspect that it was the same Merlin I found and pointed out earlier in the day because it was in the same general location.<\/p>\n

Regardless of whether it was the same bird or not the Merlin was sticky again because it had prey and I took a boatload of images of it as it consumed the small bird it had grasped in its talons.<\/p>\n

I am going to hate to see this trip end today but all good things must end. It has been very productive and I feel good for helping to rescue the Barn Owl<\/a><\/span>.<\/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 don’t often have the opportunity to photograph Merlins so I was plenty excited to find one yesterday on the South Valley Road in the Centennial Valley that stuck around for a bit!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":99396,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1513,27,223,1182,12],"tags":[4004,2663,4297,12623,4078,4279,4296,4104,4106,11852,4063,2315,1999,5434],"class_list":["post-28246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beaverhead-county-montana","category-avian","category-centennial-valley","category-merlins","category-montana","tag-adult","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-falco-columbarius","tag-falco-columbarius-richardsonii","tag-falcon","tag-falcons","tag-merlin","tag-perched","tag-prey","tag-ranchlands","tag-raptor","tag-summer-3","tag-talons","tag-valley"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/merlin-prey-mia-mcpherson-9498.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-7lA","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":16472,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/11\/01\/prairie-merlin\/","url_meta":{"origin":28246,"position":0},"title":"Prairie 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County"","block_context":{"text":"Beaverhead County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/montana\/beaverhead-county-montana\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Merlin lifting off from a fence post in the Centennial Valley of Beaverhead County, Montana","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/merlin-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-5315.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-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-5315.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/merlin-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-5315.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/merlin-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-5315.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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