Merlin Lunch and World Wanderings

[Dorian Anderson]

As I have finished writing my book and my wife's employer (Airbnb) is allowing her to work remotely through September of next year, we've rented our apartment and will be traveling the next ten months.
We're in SoCal right now but leave for Chile on Wednesday. We're there for month, and we go CA > NV > AZ > NM > CO through Jan and Feb. After that it's KS, OK, AR, and LA in March and April. Then north
along the Mississippi River through May. June and July will be spent in Canada (mostly Ontario) as we're auditioning escape possibilities. Airbnb gives Sonia 6 weeks of paid vacay for making it 5 years, so
we're going to use those to got to Norway/Sweden/Finland during the end of July and August. Upon returning, we'll pick up the car in Philly and drive back to CA to end our adventure. The kicker is that I'll
be leading tours for Tropical Birding as we move around, so I'll be traveling on top of traveling. I do MN in Feb, MA in Feb, TX in April, FL in May, NC in May, Newfoundland and Nova Scotia in early July,
Yellowstone in mid-Sept, and Northern CA right as we return home at the end of Sept. So, it's going to be a very hectic year! Fortunately my wife and are are equally adventures, independent, and energetic.
Our lodging will be a combination of Airbnb, staying with friends, and pet/house sitting for people we've met online. Scandinavia will be mostly camping. It would be fun to meet some fellow BPNers as we
move around.

Here is a frame from Riverside County in SoCal before we fly to Chile next week. I think they prey is a fresh-caught Savannah Sparrow. Lots of good perches in this area thanks to David Salem!

Canon 600mm f/4 IS II + 1.4x III on EOS R5
1/4000 at f/5.6, ISO 800
Processed in LR CC. Cloned out some twigs at bottom right.

Prolly shoulda closed down a bit to get more DOF on the tail. But Christ, I'll take it.

• Canon EOS R5
• EF600mm f/4L IS II USM +1.4x III
• ƒ/5.6
• 840mm
• 1/4000s
• ISO 800
• dorian anderson
• Thu, 02 December 2021 9:32 AM
• dorian anderson
• Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic 9.4 (Macintosh)

 

[Colin Driscoll]

Great shot! Light and BG spot on. Doubt you could get much more dof with the lens combo. What a great tour you have planned, best wishes that it is a stupendous success and anticipate some new birds posted along the way.

 

[Ian McLachlan]

Very nice.I am jealous because I was right there with David in 2016 and we had a great 5 days but a Merlin which I had never seen before [ they don't exist in Aust.] sat probably only a few yards from this brilliant perch but simply would not take flight until darkness prevailed.
Beautiful background suitably arranged by DS. and your bird beautifully shown off in wonderful colour. I dont think the tail matters as your shutter speed and you were waiting no doubt for the take off.

 

[Jonathan Ashton]

Very nice indeed, the colours and tones are well shown, I also like the perch and background, one to be proud of I reckon.

 

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Dorian ... well isolated subject !!!
Well captured all around . The food in the beak and the feet is a nice bonus .
Processing looks good to me ... in terms of detail rendering and overall tones .
I am not 100 % about the WB ... a lot of yellow in the frame , but might have been that way .

TFS Andreas

 

[Dorian Anderson]

Thank you guys for the kind comments and suggestions. And Andeas, you nailed it. I looked at this right after I posted it and thought the same thing re: the yellow. I cooled the version I uploaded to my website in anticipation of the comment. Cheers!

 

[Bill Dix]

Oh to be young again. I look back with great enjoyment at my various world travels when I was younger; my only regret being that I wasn't much into bird photography in those days. What great birds I missed!

Lovely Merlin.

 

[arash_hazeghi]

super frame buddy! would not change a thing

TFS