{"id":75314,"date":"2020-11-13T05:49:50","date_gmt":"2020-11-13T12:49:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=75314"},"modified":"2025-11-22T15:59:18","modified_gmt":"2025-11-22T21:59:18","slug":"merlin-and-american-kestrels-two-falcon-species-in-a-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/11\/13\/merlin-and-american-kestrels-two-falcon-species-in-a-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Merlin And American Kestrels – Two Falcon Species In A Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

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.<\/p>\n

\"AdultAdult male American Kestrel perched on a barb wire fence \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

It started off when I spotted a male American Kestrel perched on a barb wire fence in nice morning light at Farmington Bay WMA. It was chilly and the little male kestrel seemed to be resting on the fence.<\/p>\n

\"MaleMale American Kestrel resting on a metal post \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

But I believe he was perched there because there were dozens upon dozens of American Pipits in the marsh nearby flying around and foraging on the ground. Pipits are prey items for our smallest North American falcon species and I’ve been hearing large flocks of pipits at Farmington Bay WMA, Bear River MBR, and beyond for weeks now.<\/p>\n

The male kestrel did take off in the direction of a flock of pipits at one point and he landed on the marsh before he flew back to this metal post. He missed the prey on that attempt but I can see a bit of dried blood just above his foot that leads me to believe he had a successful hunt earlier in the morning.<\/p>\n

\"FemaleFemale Prairie Merlin perched in a tree \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 500, +1.0 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

Earlier in the morning I’d seen a female American Kestrel in one area of Farmington Bay WMA but wasn’t able to lock onto her and I hoped that she’d be around for another chance at photographing her so when I saw a falcon shaped bird fly into a tree I suspected it might have been her but to my surprise it was a female Merlin that had landed in the tree. This Merlin is from the Prairie subspecies.<\/p>\n

She perched for quite a while in the tree until an immature Red-tailed Hawk dove at her and chased her off. I spotted where she landed on the top of a rabbitbrush and was attempting to get closer to her when she took off and landed on a bare branch.<\/p>\n

\"PrairiePrairie Merlin at Farmington Bay WMA \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 500, +1.0 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

The female Merlin seemed content on the branch until a Black-billed Magpie flew in and attempted to harass her. The Merlin held her ground, or branch, and the magpie gave up and flew off. A few minutes later I saw a flurry of feathers through my viewfinder when a female American Kestrel flew in and chased the larger Merlin off of the branch. I suspect it was the same female kestrel that I had spotted earlier in the morning.<\/p>\n

At this location I again heard large flocks of American Pipits flying overhead and spotted them in the marsh nearby, they are also a prey item for merlins so perhaps this beauty will stick around and overwinter here as many merlins do.<\/p>\n

I took hundreds of photos of the Merlin and American Kestrels I found and pointed out yesterday. I’m sure more photos of the falcon species I saw at the WMA will be shared here on my posts and in my photo galleries.<\/p>\n

It was terrific and fun having both of these falcon species in my viewfinder yesterday.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":99424,"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":[152,27,1022,697,1182,26],"tags":[4004,10636,155,970,2069,3981,4297,4199,4078,4279,6452,4070,6276,4892,4062,4094,4296,4295,4104,4233,4018,5422,30],"class_list":["post-75314","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-american-kestrel","category-avian","category-davis-county-utah","category-farmington-bay-wma","category-merlins","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-adult-immature","tag-american-kestrel","tag-autumn","tag-blue-sky","tag-davis-county","tag-falco-columbarius","tag-falco-sparverius","tag-falcon","tag-falcons","tag-farmington-bay-wma","tag-female","tag-kestrel","tag-kestrels","tag-male","tag-marsh","tag-merlin","tag-merlins","tag-perched","tag-prairie","tag-sky","tag-subspecies","tag-utah-2"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/merlin-female-adult-perched-mia-mcpherson-2200.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-jAK","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":109584,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/01\/13\/female-american-kestrel-on-a-tree-top\/","url_meta":{"origin":75314,"position":0},"title":"Female American Kestrel On A Tree Top","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 13, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"I spent a few moments photographing a gorgeous female American Kestrel on a tree top yesterday morning at Farmington Bay WMA.","rel":"","context":"In "American Kestrels"","block_context":{"text":"American Kestrels","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/falcons\/american-kestrel\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Saucy looking female American Kestrel, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/american-kestrel-female-tree-top-mia-mcpherson-8016.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/american-kestrel-female-tree-top-mia-mcpherson-8016.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/american-kestrel-female-tree-top-mia-mcpherson-8016.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/american-kestrel-female-tree-top-mia-mcpherson-8016.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":108991,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/12\/25\/christmas-day-american-kestrel\/","url_meta":{"origin":75314,"position":1},"title":"Christmas Day American Kestrel","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 25, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"I photographed this Christmas Day American Kestrel in 2020 at Farmington Bay WMA. 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