ML63338931
Contributor
Tom Johnson Media from this contributor
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 typical Taiga birds.
Technical information
- Model
- Canon EOS 40D
- Lens
- EF400mm f/5.6L USM
- ISO
- 640
- Focal length
- 400 mm
- Flash
- Flash did not fire, auto
- f-stop
- f/7.1
- Shutter speed
- 1/1600 sec
- Dimensions
- 1497 pixels x 1000 pixels
- Original file size
- 553.61 KB