Peregrine Falcon after My Pigeons

This story happened for real and I will always remember it. A nice sunny day, but very cold. At 2 o’clock I went out to the loft and set the pigeons free for the daily dose of adrenaline (winter by the mountains, you can imagine). The pigeons already had a lot of hawk attacks experience and they were very fit. Seeing the raptor, they make a very tight flock and fly straight to the horizon extremely fast, leaving the hawk behind. This time, they already did the ranging 2 times and were getting back to the home area like little dots on the sky.

The flock of a neighbor (as crazy as me, with a passion for natural selection) appeared but were flying low. My flock started to come down in small circles, trying to find the right position to enter the loft. When they were really close to the loft, they suddenly changed the direction and increased the speed like crazy. They tried to mix with the other flock but those didn’t want to fly higher so they continued by themselves. I looked in the opposite direction to see the hawk and already dreaming of a failed attack. Ah well, there was no hawk… it was the devil himself, the peregrine falcon!

It simply ignored the other flock that was flying near the roofs and even if my pigeons were by now to the line of the horizon like tiny dots, he went slowly after them, like he had the whole time in the world. They were climbing higher and higher – exactly what he wanted. When he reached them, he simulated an attack to split the flock a bit. The flock turned to the opposite direction instantly and “exploded” while the falcon entered. In that mad loop, about 10 birds split from the flock and spread all over the sky. The other 40 or so, remained in a very tight flock like bees, and turned back to the town. The falcon didn’t care about the split birds (don’t know why!) and he followed the flock.

They were climbing higher and higher, in a very tight flock, increasing the speed as much as possible. A stock bird that wasn’t used to such attacks finally split again when the falcon was close and dropped like a stone from the sky – the falcon followed him this time and got near it in seconds. I was ready to see the falcon with the pigeon in the claws but in the very next second, the pigeon suddenly changed its vertical direction by several degrees and tricked the falcon. The falcon gave up and started to climb again for the flock. The pigeon hurried to the loft like crazy and I thought it will crash in the wall, but it managed to avoid the loft and stopped in a storage room near the loft. He was terrified.

I looked back to the sky… the flock was very very high, tiny dots on the sky and I could hardly see them because they were in the direction of the sun. When they got out of the sun, I noticed that they were not alone………….. the mad falcon was still after them! He was like a robot, dark, thin, with a mechanic calm flight, very confident. The pigeons were climbing even higher…never seen them so HIGH!

My phone rang, and somebody asked me something…I simply do not remember who was and what he wanted…I was hypnotized by the greatest LIVE show of nature. My pigeons were trying to survive the fastest animal on Terra, right in the middle of its favorite battleground, the SKY. The question was not “will it catch” but it was “what pigeon will it catch?”. He was climbing after them relaxed, waiting for the next mistake…which was done pretty soon. A fatty yearling split and the falcon was mad after him. They were extremely high, 99% chances for the falcon. Falling from the sky like stones. Like in the previous attack, the pigeon tricked the falcon in the last moment, but they were still very high. When the falcon tried to get it, another trick in the last moment, another escape. I was sweating, my heart was pounding. The falcon was desperate and nervous, and tried to hit the bird for the 3rd time – now it flapped the wings several times to increase the vertical speed and to hit the pigeon deadly, but exactly in the moment when they were becoming a single shape on the sky, fatty delivers a new insane trick that left me with my mouth wide open (probably it was the same for the falcon). The trick can’t be described in words, but I will remember it all my life…you can see it in the picture below.

The falcon tried a 4th attack, but it was more shy this time since they were close to the ground, and then it left ashamed. The fatty pigeon was close to the loft but his mind probably couldn’t process reality anymore because of the terror and he simply dropped in a tree nearby. He is a pigeon from new stock, this is why he is so big. In a few generations, the pigeons become very small in my mountain area. Natural selection at its best.

After the short happiness moment, I looked to the sky again. The damn falcon was already after another pigeon, a pied. They disappeared at the horizon. Meanwhile, the sputnik was “attacked” by shocked pigeons from allover the sky. Every 2-3 minutes, a pigeon would drop like a stone from the sky and hit the sputnik. You could hear “JJJJJJJJSSSSHHH” when they were “cutting” the atmosphere. I was counting them: here’s the old white feather, here’s the good bluebar, the little bluebar, the red chequer, the “Aarden”. Later on, the pied that the falcon was after appears from the horizon…hooray! The mighty falcon missed again.

Very high, there was still the remaining flock that never split, about 20 birds. I loved the way they were flying – these were the ultimate perfect racing machines, that the falcon couldn’t split. They were crossing the sky like a single unit, in perfect harmony. After some time, they finally decide its safe to come home and in 2-3 circles, they try to hit the sputnik: 2 stop on the roof, 8 on the sputnik, 3 stick to the loft’s mesh, one in the garden and some others in the balcony, near me.

Here’s a little female from the hero team, the pic was taken right after they landed. I love their stamina.

Up on the red sky of sunset…guess what. The falcon is after a pigeon. Again?!

While I prepare the electrolytes the sputnik “explodes” and two older males appear. One of them was a very good racer that had some great race results and the other…don’t know, he was so fast that I couldn’t even notice the color, he was already inside the nest box!

I count them. There’s one missing. A 07 male might be the victim. After that violent attack style, it was kind of normal after all.

I closed the loft and went to discuss with my neighbor about this crazy adventure. It was getting dark and I looked at the sky for the last time. Far away, there was a tiny dot at the horizon… it was getting closer and closer. When it was just above the town, it closed the wings and dropped from the sky to my loft. WOW. I was thrilled. It was the missing 07 male that I thought was already in the falcon’s stomach.