Good to hear that you're buddies with Reindell. He's a great guy. I've known him for quite a while and spent a few days out there with him during this past hawking season. I've flown several merlins over the years (a mix of passage birds and imprints, etc.) One of the 2 that I've got right now was a passage bird from this past fall. The other is a bird that I pulled (with one of her brothers) from the nest at 16 days of age, and then a friend and I chamber raised-raised them until after they were hard-penned, so she's not an imprint and not a passage bird either, but she's a great little falconry bird and really fun to fly. You're more than welcome to come see them on the wing. Shoot me an email; scottmcneff@yahoo.com