Last week I was offered the opportunity to release a merlin not far from where I work. I jumped at the chance. I've released well over 70 species of birds and a merlin is not on that list. I should add that I am not competing with myself, or anyone else, but it's cool if I can add to these lists that I keep.
I brought my camera but had the idea to set my phone up on the other end of the roof of my car and take some video too. I'm glad that I did as the release was over in seconds and the bird flew fast, high and far across a fenced off field. From the video I managed to take some screen shots that I am sharing here, along with a YouTube link to the video.
It is one of my most memorable releases, perhaps because it is the only merlin I've released. Here are a few screen shots...
Cropped...
One more...
Here is the YouTube link. You can see how bad that bird wanted out of there.
How's this for maybe my shortest blog ever?