Peregrine Falcons

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     I read somewhere that you don't see Peregrine Falcons so much as they allow themselves to be seen. Thinking back on my two encounters with them, that might be a valid claim. They both looked me in the eye as they each stood with a songbird clutched in their talons and trapped against the ground. I never saw them on a hike in the woods or on a camping trip. No. I saw them both within two blocks of where I live which is in the middle of a big city.  I don't even know how I knew what they were as I had rarely seen pictures of them. For instance, I have seen so many pictures of red-tailed hawks that, if I ran into one walking down the street, I would know what it is instantly.
     Without that type of photographic memory, I still knew the first time one dive-bombed a songbird to the ground in front of me right up on 38th and Pennsylvania, that I was looking at a Peregrine Falcon.

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