[CT Birds] ct birds -- challenges

[Phil Asprelli]

In 2003, Charley West and I were birding in SE Arizona. We were driving along a road in a landscape that looked like a scene from "Dances with wolves." Charley spotted a small flock of sparrows on the left side of the road that he wanted to check out. We got out of the car and as Charley looked in the direction of the sparrows I looked in the opposite direction to look for anything else. I saw 3 birds which I called Charley's attention to. 1 was a N Harrier doing his thing over the open expanse. The other 2 were a Western Meadowlark with a Prairie Falcon in hot pursuit. Charley and I were about 10 ft apart. The Meadowlark trying to escape headed in our direction and flew between us and the Falcon put on it's brakes and angled skyward ending up 50 ft over our heads! Charley and I just looked at each other in amazement. A good day for the Meadowlark ... A bad day for the Falcon!
                                                                                                              Phil Asprelli