Falcon or Merlin Visit? – SkullTalk

By Terra Rae of “Team Earth”

Falcon flies right in!

Belinda and I were working on the photos for my up-and-coming “Crystalline Stellar Skulls” book, and she spotted a few shots of a large bird, in the mix. “Is that a hawk,” she asked?

“No, it’s a falcon,” I replied.

“I didn’t know there were falcons here, and I’ve lived here my whole life,” she stated rather surprised. “You’re sure that’s not a hawk?” she inquired.

“No, it’s a falcon. See how he has a long straight tail with subtle stripes. Notice the flat head, and smaller curved beak. I see them out on the greenbelt sometimes, when I am out walking.”

“That’s very cool, and I can’t believe I have never seen one here!” she said studying the bird.

“What’s really cool is, that it’s Merlin paying me a visit! He can jump into a carrion if it is a brilliant and fortified bird. The falcon is his favorite, since it can turn on a dime, and possibly ‘see’ like no other,” I shared.

“Really ~ interesting!” she glanced at me as we went back to work.

Not even five minutes later, she said in a quiet and quick statement,

“A big bird just flew into your yard!”

We both turned quickly and looked straight out the large window, and not ten feet away, right on a branch straight in front of us, was a beautiful falcon. We watched for ten to fifteen minutes and he seemed quite comfortable scouting the yard for prey, and sometimes he would look over at us watching him. My camera was right there on the desk, so I was able to fire off a few good shots of him. Since there was a hummingbird feeder very close to him, and I didn’t want him picking off the hummers, I decided to call in the Stellar Skulls and asked if they would go stir up a mouse for him.

In less than a minute, the falcon swooped around the yard, showing us how he could maneuver and landed on the wall. He took a quick look around, and swooped down into the gravel driveway snatching up a mouse. We both watched, and Belinda was just about speechless.

“Thanks for checking in Merlin!” I said as I went back to work on a Stellar Skull photo.

“I could actually hear someone tell me to ‘turn around’, since my back was to the window, so I could see him fly onto the branch,” she stated as she went back to her workspace.

“Do you think it was Merlin ~ or the Skullies?”
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