Merlin and Flicker Posers
Published: March 13, 2018
Tags: General Observations, merlin, northern flicker, american kestrel, ring-necked pheasant
This is just a short, fun post to show a couple of nice sightings I had of a Merlin and a Northern Flicker. Both birds were unusually cooperative and let me grab a few photos at a pretty close range. I think the challenges of the snow and cold does that sometimes!
The Merlin, I believe a female, kept fanning her tail in one direction and the other. I've read that birds need to expose their feathers to the sun to help keep them dry and clean. Perhaps that was part of her agenda - but I'd like to think she was posing just for me!
The flicker, also a female, was very absorbed in aggressively digging under the snow into some mud. I couldn't be sure, but it looked like she pulled out a couple of insects that she was able to eat.
In the last couple of days, I also had a chance encounter with a Ring-necked Pheasant and my FOY (first of year) sighting of an American Kestrel...
Merlin - a lovely poser
Merlin
Merlin
A Northern Flicker digging under the snow into the mud for some worms or other food source.
Northern Flicker
A face full of mud and snow!
Ummmm, you've got something on your bill...
A lovely profile - you can really see why this subspecies is called Northern Flicker, yellow shafted.
Ring-necked Pheasant
American Kestrel. The blue on the top of his head and on his wings tells us he's a handsome adult male