More fun with Merlins

I've fallen a little behind on this blog, these photos are of a Merlin from last week. The big SW gales that brought the cave swallows blew down one of the snags the Merlins commonly used and knocked out half of the other main perch, so this bird wound up a little lower than they have been.

Here's a caption contest...

Obvious ones include:

1. Merlin power!

2. We fly the bird upside down

3. Waiter, do you have any more Swamp Sparrows? (we watched it beeline out over the lake to hook behind an incoming passerine, it swooped up and snatched it just like the previous bird did to the kinglet but this one didn't allow an escape. It carried the prey back, decapitated and ate it (we recovered the Swampie's head after the merlin flew off).

Another flight montage...

And the view if you were underneath that snag: