The Merlins

This evening Steffan took this photo of two adult merlins. They are a mated pair and what you can't see in this rather amazing photograph is that there were also two babies in the tree with them. These merlins live in a tree on our neighbour's property but absolutely LOVE the dead pine tree out front of our place. As such, most days they can be found up there either just resting or eating their latest song bird snack!

* click on the photo thumbnail to see larger photo*

I have to admit, having a family of raptors living beside your house is a little weird. There's a lot of screaming and swooping going on and many of the songbirds seem to be either hiding or have just moved out! Every so often you can see feathers falling from their perch up in the dead tree and you know they're eating another bird. For the most part though, they're just really neat to watch and witness. It's not everyone that is so lucky as to be able to watch a pair of falcons raising their young. Steffan has been able to get some amazing photos of them and we've been able to watch them hunt and feed their young and now teach them to fly and hunt. Just beautiful.