![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/merlin-2497b-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"merlin-2497b-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nI’m quite excited about this news from HWI.<\/p>\n
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1\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n I photographed this Merlin on September 12, 2015 in southwest Montana and I believe it’s a female of the prairie subspecies (Falco columbarius richardsonii<\/em>). As some buteos and falcons often do she assumed this foot-raised pose and held it for some time. In my experience it’s a behavior\u00a0sometimes associated with grooming\/preening but this time it took her quite a while to get around to any grooming at all.\u00a0Eventually she did\u00a0groom her upper leg where it attaches to her body\u00a0but she never did do anything with either her lower leg or her foot. I think she just felt comfortable in this pose.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I chose to post a Merlin this morning for a reason.<\/p>\n Regular readers are familiar with\u00a0HawkWatch International<\/a>, an organization based right here in Salt Lake City and\u00a0dedicated to the worldwide\u00a0conservation of raptors and our shared environment. Largely because of their research involving the conservation of raptors I’m a huge fan of HWI so I’ve plugged them several times here on Feathered Photography and I’ve even included a graphic at the bottom of the right hand column of my blog that links to their web page. Education of the public about the values of raptors is a\u00a0large part of their mission so they have a variety of education birds (they often refer to them as ambassadors) that they use\u00a0in classes and other venues. Our very own Galileo (the Short-eared Owl that Mia and I rescued off of barbed wire) is one of them.<\/p>\n Two days ago I learned that HWI is very excited about a new ambassador, a rescue male Merlin. This new falcon joins Alaska (Swainson’s Hawk), Artemis (Western Screech Owl), Amyra (another Swainson’s Hawk), Calurus (Red-tailed Hawk), Goose (Peregrine Falcon), Kotori (Great Horned Owl), Yaki (American Kestrel) and of course Galileo to round out their stable of education birds.\u00a0As far as I know the new Merlin doesn’t have a name yet but I have a standing invitation to go down and meet him which I hope to do very\u00a0soon.\u00a0If you have the interest you\u00a0can meet HWI’s education birds by following this link<\/a>.<\/p>\n HWI’s annual Wings Across the West fundraiser<\/a> is approaching fast (April 20) so I want to give it a plug and to report some other news of the “warm fuzzy” variety (at least it is to me). I recently learned that some of my readers from around the country\u00a0have been donating to HWI and that warms the cockles of my heart.<\/p>\n Feathered Photography readers are the best!<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n PS – I suppose I should mention that I try to support HWI in every way I can. One of the ways I do that is by donating prints to their silent auction held during their Wings Across the West fundraiser. Last year it was a Burrowing Owl print.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n This year it’s a 16×20 print of this Golden Eagle image (readers of my blog have seen it before). I thought a print of this photo would be particularly appropriate because of the ongoing research HWI does\u00a0with Golden Eagles<\/a>. The folks at Hawkwatch agree.<\/em><\/p>\n Addendum: Reader, HWI volunteer\u00a0and good friend Tana Peery Hunter has informed me on Facebook of the following update regarding the status of HWI’s education birds – “Jack is beautiful, Ron. He can\u2019t fly and is in Yaki\u2019s old bird cage as sadly we lost both Yaki and Alaska last year. Yaki was 15 and Alaska was 25 or there about.”<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n If you’re active on FB a photo of Jack can be seen here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I’m quite excited about this news from HWI.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/golden-eagle-5979b-ron-dudley.jpg\")
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