From Spring 2007

I spent the day on the desert yesterday and, as is often the case, it was magical. I saw the most amazing thing. I watched a Golden Eagle stoop on a Prairie Falcon. The falcon was flying fast and low and the eagle was very high when I first noticed them. The falcon was fast, but the eagle was a bullet. Its wings were cocked as it dove like a fighter jet toward the falcon. The falcon escaped (just) by executing a twisting barrel roll just feet off the ground. I saw the eagle's wings shudder as it strained to pull up. Of course, the Prairie Falcon turned and came back, diving at the eagle as it struggled to gain altitude. That's the way Prairie Falcons are--obstreperous and brazen. Its mate (screaming across the sky from somewhere) joined in the fray and I watched them until they were tiny dots on the blue. It was something you might see once in a lifetime.