The battle for the skies

It’s one very lucky feral dove that emerges from a spectacular avian dogfight

- Jamie Blackett

THE highlight of this spring’s birdsong has been more cuckoos calling than I’ve heard for years. Whether this is due to our success with the Larsen traps or self-control on the part of the Maltese and others, we can’t tell—probably a bit of both. However, it’s when birds squawk strange oaths at each other that spring is at its most interesting.

Yesterday, I was startled by the avian equivalent of two fishwives hurling insults across a street when a peregrine lumbered over my head. I know, peregrines don’t usually lumber, but this one had a bird almost as big as herself in her talons and she was yawing like a helicopter with an overweight underslung load as a crow attacked her, attempting to steal her prey.

The two disappeared into dead ground and I ran to see the fight. It looked as if the falcon had gone to ground to mantle over the kill, but, next, I saw the two of them spiral up in a dogfight. The air was thick with black feathers and the peregrine was clearly besting the bigger bird, which flew off in disgust. By good fortune, I had my binoculars and watched as she circled above the fields.