Tuesday, October 25, 2022,

This is a Merlin I chanced to see at the Marine Nature Study Area in Oceanside. It’s not one of my better photos, but I don’t run into all that many Merlins, outside of my work at Sweetbriar Nature Center. At Sweetbriar, I get to see some of them up close, but seeing a bird in captivity is not the same as seeing the same bird out in the wild.All animals are much more magnificent in the wild. JK.