A Sudden Silence

Our backyard is nice and noisy now that spring is here. The constant hooting of the White-winged and Mourning Doves stopped suddenly this afternoon, and I looked up to see what they saw: an adult Peregrine Falcon soaring overhead. The strong wind pushed the raptor south and east, and soon enough the noise broke out stronger than before.

It’s hard to know whether this was a migrant or a local bird. As far as I know, the neighborhood was without a resident Peregrine this winter, but our visitor this afternoon may just have flown down from the Catalinas to see what looked good for Sunday dinner. We have the finest grain-fed doves and quail around, after all.