I had thought my Saturday photography was probably finished after the Orange-crowned warbler I had photographed earlier, but hoping for better warbler shots (with the sun on the water feature) I went back to the yard at 5pm.  (See prior post.)

I had no longer gotten settled in the yard when, through a small window in our fir trees, I spied a falcon headed my way.  In the fastest move I have ever made in this regard, I switched my focus to continuous and spun my shutter speed up.  (I didn’t have time to check it, but fortunately it had stopped on 1/1250/sec.)  I took about 8-10 photos while the falcon made a circle or two, then headed off with a crow in pursuit.  I’m assuming that this is a Merlin, but I’ll try to receive confirmation from a friend whose life work is Merlins.