{"id":99361,"date":"2022-01-28T04:14:05","date_gmt":"2022-01-28T11:14:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=99361"},"modified":"2024-02-15T03:52:05","modified_gmt":"2024-02-15T10:52:05","slug":"adult-male-prairie-merlin-at-bear-river-mbr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/01\/28\/adult-male-prairie-merlin-at-bear-river-mbr\/","title":{"rendered":"Adult Male Prairie Merlin At Bear River MBR"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the birds I photographed yesterday at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge<\/span><\/a> was an adult male Prairie Merlin that I spotted on a fence post close to the road.<\/p>\n

\"AdultAdult male Prairie Merlin \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/5000, ISO 1000, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

Unfortunately due to circumstances beyond my control, I wasn’t able to photograph the falcon on the close fence post. When the male Merlin took off from the first fence post he landed on another fence post that was farther away from the road. I took photos of this striking bird even though I would have preferred to have him closer.<\/p>\n

Note:<\/strong> I must have bumped my ISO up earlier in the morning because of low light and forgot to dial it back. I typically do not use ISO 1000 when I have good light. My Nikon D500 handles high ISO’s like a champ though and my higher ISO setting had no detrimental effect on these images.<\/p>\n

\"MaleMale Prairie Merlin on a wooden post \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/5000, ISO 1000, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

I truly hoped that this male Merlin would come a bit closer to where I sat in a mobile blind but that was not to be.<\/p>\n

I wasn’t sure that I would like having the red gate in my photos of this Merlin. After looking at the images on my large screen at home I decided I didn’t mind the red gate at all. This bird has adapted to having human made items in his environment. I can adapt too.<\/p>\n

I don’t see Merlins as often as I would like to so finding this Merlin and having him in my viewfinder was a treat. Usually I find female or immature Merlins in the field. This male was a great find. My only wish is that I had been able to photograph him when he was closer to the road.<\/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":"

One of the birds I photographed yesterday at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge was an adult male Prairie Merlin that I spotted on a fence post close to the road.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":99356,"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":[124,27,1148,1182,26],"tags":[4004,2663,4098,4297,12623,4078,4279,898,5672,6888,4062,4296,4295,4104,4233,153,5849,373,8917],"class_list":["post-99361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge","category-avian","category-box-elder-county-utah","category-merlins","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-desert","tag-falco-columbarius","tag-falco-columbarius-richardsonii","tag-falcon","tag-falcons","tag-fence-post","tag-flats","tag-gate","tag-male","tag-merlin","tag-merlins","tag-perched","tag-prairie","tag-raptors","tag-red-gate","tag-winter","tag-wooden-post"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/merlin-male-fence-post-mia-mcpherson-4453.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-pQB","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":59469,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/08\/13\/poof-utahs-merlins-could-disappear\/","url_meta":{"origin":99361,"position":0},"title":"Poof: Utah’s Merlins Could Disappear","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 13, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"In my experience Merlins are already hard to find in the state of Utah but because of our climate crisis they could become even more difficult to locate or they might even disappear from the state altogether.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Merlin with prey at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, 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post, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/merlin-at-bear-river-mbr-mia-mcpherson-6956.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/merlin-at-bear-river-mbr-mia-mcpherson-6956.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/merlin-at-bear-river-mbr-mia-mcpherson-6956.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/merlin-at-bear-river-mbr-mia-mcpherson-6956.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":75314,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/11\/13\/merlin-and-american-kestrels-two-falcon-species-in-a-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":99361,"position":3},"title":"Merlin And American Kestrels – Two Falcon Species In A Day","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 13, 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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2015","format":false,"excerpt":"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!","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":"Merlin and its prey in the Centennial Valley of Beaverhead County, Montana","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/merlin-prey-mia-mcpherson-9498.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-prey-mia-mcpherson-9498.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/merlin-prey-mia-mcpherson-9498.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 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