WildView™

August 8, 2025

The Silver Sentinel

- as seen by -

Stacy Ratel @back_yard_birdie

---

At first glance in the low light, I mistook her for a rock dove on a wire. But the shape of her head—a perfect, round, and alert silhouette—told me otherwise: a merlin (Falco columbarius). I stayed still. I don’t love wire shots, so I waited quietly. While I attached my camera to my tripod, I acted disinterested and wandered away. “Just looking for my wallet,” I told her with my body language.

Moments later, she launched like a bullet to a nearby branch—this gnarled perch was her stage. Her white belly fanned out like the symmetry of a snowflake, and her back—those slate-gray feathers—looked like metallic silver battle armor, fit for a tiny knight of the skies.

She looked still over her shoulder, and I held my breath. That glance—bold and ancient—was the photograph.

Click. Protect what’s wild.

Canon R5 with 100-500 lens and 1.4 extender

---