Merlin!

My wife and I made a return to the Timber Point/Timber Island trail at Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge yesterday early, to catch the low tide and walk out to the Island. It was a perfect October day in Maine. Cold enough for gloves when we left the house, but warm enough so we were unzipping and shedding layers on the way back. Big blue sky with just a few clouds. Leaves drifting down from the trees, but still a lot of color in the foliage. Autumn personified. Timber Point and Timber Island are wonderful places. I have already written a photoprowl about the Timber Point trail, and I will be adding a section on the Island itself. Lots of birds, great scenery. Wonderful.

This bird was perhaps the highlight of the walk. A female Merlin, perhaps, if memory serves, my first in Maine, and only maybe my 4th nation wide. I have seen them now in CA, NM, NJ, and Maine. This is stretching the limits of the 1200mm equivalent zoom on the Sony HX400V but it was a close to the bird asf I could get, and it will do nicely for a memory shot.

Sony HX400V at 1200mm equivalent field of view. Shutter preferred. 1/640th @ ISO 80 @ f6.3. Processed in Lightroom on my Surface Pro 3 table.