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<\/p>\nYesterday afternoon when I delivered the Golden Eagle print to HawkWatch International for their silent auction fundraiser I was able to meet\u00a0the newest addition to their stable of education birds.<\/p>\n
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He’s a spectacular little\u00a0male Merlin named Jack.<\/p>\n
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HWI obtained him from the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Northern Utah (WRCNU) where he had been taken because of an injury to his right wing that makes him un-releasable in the\u00a0wild. Thankfully that injury doesn’t seem to bother him in captivity and about all I noticed was a very slight droop to the wing.<\/p>\n
He’s a spectacular little falcon and I instantly fell in love with him. He has lots of personality and has quickly adapted to being handled and cared for. He actually seems to enjoy being “on the glove” and I predict that he’ll have a long, happy life as\u00a0a pampered\u00a0education ambassador for HWI. Since he isn’t\u00a0releasable I can think of nowhere I’d rather have him spend the rest of his life than at HawkWatch. Those folks really know how to\u00a0properly care for\u00a0captive raptors.<\/p>\n
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There are three races or subspecies of Merlin in North America: The very pale Prairie Merlin (Great Plains), the very dark Black Merlin (Pacific Northwest) and the intermediate Tiaga Merlin (Boreal Forest). Even though the Tiaga Merlin is most common most Merlins I’ve seen and photographed\u00a0have been\u00a0the pale Prairie Merlins.<\/p>\n
But\u00a0to my untrained\u00a0eye Jack appears to be an intermediate\u00a0Taiga Merlin (if I’m wrong please correct me). Just look at those beautiful and striking dark wings – they\u00a0really captured my attention when I saw Jack, as did his huge, dark eyes.<\/p>\n
I had a wonderful visit with old friends at HW, including good friend, blog follower\u00a0and former teaching colleague Tana Peery Hunter who is now a HW volunteer who\u00a0helps with the care of their education birds and\u00a0works with their American Kestrel projects.<\/p>\n
I also spent\u00a0some quality time with\u00a0our old\u00a0friend Galileo the Short-eared Owl Mia and I rescued off of barbed wire almost two years ago. Galileo is one of the very few education\u00a0SEO’s in the country\u00a0and he has\u00a0oodles of personality and curiosity\u00a0on the glove so he’s quite the star and beloved by everyone who cares for him and takes him to his education “performances”. I can imagine his effect on his audiences.<\/p>\n
And that makes me very happy, especially when I think of the alternative.<\/p>\n
Ron<\/p>\n
PS – For these photos I wish I’d asked Education and Outreach Director Nikki Wayment to hold Jack a little further away from the tree in the background so the leaves wouldn’t compete with the bird quite so much. Live and learn…<\/em><\/p>\n PSS – After yesterday’s rant on the proposed Donald J. Trump Highway I thought some readers might enjoy seeing this clip<\/a> from CNN. I certainly\u00a0 did!<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Yesterday I visited with old friends at HawkWatch International and met their new education bird, a flashy little male Merlin.<\/p>\n