ML193329301

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

When I first noticed this falcon I was about 1/3 of the way down the drive from River Road. In the past I've seen kestrels here, and that's what I was looking for. Or perhaps a Merlin since one is known to winter just down the road. At first, with a naked eye view, I suspected this falcon was a merlin. However, after looking through the binoculars I thought it was too light in color, bulky, and the thin dark malar stripe seemed too off for Merlin. After getting out of the truck and setting up my scope I started thinking it looked like a Prairie Falcon, but didn't believe it. In addition to the thin malar stripe a white supercilium was visible and the base of the beak was yellow. Then I thought maybe it was a "prairie" Merlin, the lighter colored one we rarely see in Kentucky. After about 10 minutes it took off and flew south. In flight it appeared much bigger than I originally thought, and I looked for the dark coverts and auxiliaries, which were visible! Prairie Falcon! See attached photos. Several folks searched for it the rest of the afternoon with no luck until finally it was observed one other time late in the day.

Technical information

Model

NIKON D500

ISO

220

Focal length

500 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/5.6

Shutter speed

1/1000 sec

Dimensions

1674 pixels x 1116 pixels

Original file size

1.06 MB