Merlin

Merlin, immature, perhaps a hatch-year male. Perching along the George Washington Memorial Parkway this morning. The Merlin is crouching in one of these photos because it is playing a round of Dodge-The-Corvids with three American Crows that are trying to bump it from its perch.

Here in Virginia's Coastal Plain, Merlin is a common to uncommon transient and uncommon winter resident. Great bird to see, much less photograph. Last time I had an opportunity to photograph a Merlin was 2007.

Offending branches in some of these photos, ones that obscure part of the bird, show up in my "captures" so often that sometimes I feel like my camera shipped from the factory with these obstructions imprinted on the camera's sensor.

From Falcon's of North America by Kate Davis:

"Merlins sometimes hunt using a 'camouflage flight,' bouncing through the air with wing beats and glides, which resembles the flight of a songbird or woodpecker. This often allows the Merlin to get close to its prey before it is recognized as a predator."