ML35556671
Contributor
Tim Lenz Media from this contributor Profile
Date
Location
Cayuga Co.--90 (Lake Rd to Ledyard Rd)
Cayuga, New York, United States
Media from this location Illustrated Checklist- Age
- Not specified
- Sex
- Not specified
Observation details
***MEGA subspecies - probably a first NY record; this very dark Merlin was perched atop a utility pole south of Aurora. I saw it naked eye as we were driving past, and did a quick u-turn because it appeared to be all dark. I took some photos of the bird as it perched and then flew; these revealed the general lack of pale spotting/ barring on the remiges, which are very important to the subspecific identification: http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/Auk/v089n02/p0325-p0338.pdf). Most Taiga Merlins show extensive pale barring throughout the remiges, a feature notably lacking on this bird. The dark "helmet" and underparts were also very dark, much moreso than thousands of other Merlins that I've seen well on the East Coast.
Photos:
Technical information
- Model
- Canon EOS 40D
- ISO
- 400
- Focal length
- 400 mm
- Flash
- Flash did not fire, auto
- f-stop
- f/5.6
- Shutter speed
- 1/500 sec
- Dimensions
- 924 pixels x 616 pixels
- Original file size
- 158 KB