The Story
I photographed Sarka, a Merlin (Falco columbarius), at the Avian Reconditioning Center in Apopka, Florida, United States, in October 2020. The Merlin breeds across the northern parts of the Northern Hemisphere, and some migrate to subtropical and northern tropical regions for the winter. These swift fliers specialize in small birds, from sparrows up to doves and medium-sized shorebirds. Females and immatures are brownish gray to dark brown above and whitish buff spotted with brown below. IUCN lists it as Least Concern.
I used a Pentax K-1 with the HD Pentax-D FA 150-450mm f/4.5-5.6 for this one, at 1/1000 sec, f/5.6, ISO 400. The Avian Reconditioning Center is a nonprofit in Apopka that has rehabilitated injured and orphaned birds of prey since 2001 and releases healthy raptors back to the wild.
©2023 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Merlin (Falco columbarius) belongs to the family Falconidae (Falcons and Caracaras) in the eBird/Clements taxonomy.
Source: eBird.org (opens in a new tab)
Conservation
Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (assessment published 2021), with the population trend listed as stable. Source: IUCN Red List