Peregrine Fall

This morning I noticed that the chickens were mysteriously absent from their yard. Usually in fair weather there are at least a few out pecking in the grass, clucking and crowing to each other. I looked up to the top of their fence and spotted this peregrine falcon as he was overlooking the henyard.  Peregrines are possibly the fastest animals on earth -- they can achieve speeds of 320 km/hr in a dive. He left when I opened the backdoor, and later I found a dead hen in the grass, half eaten.

We walked out to the woods in the western fields. The colors were beautiful, the grasses have turned green and red, and the barley is gold.



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 An abandoned magpie nest

A mossy bone left by a travelling coyote

A red and green rock that mirrors the colors of the grass

On a personal note, Cricket had a lump removed from her tummy.  The histology report said it was composed of two types of cancer cells.  The excavation was quite large, and so hopefully the entire growth was removed so that the cancer will not spread. I think it was localized: there was a necrotic center which suggests to me that it was an immune response to a foreign object that grew out of control.  I'm happy to report that Cricket is doing very well, her energy and appetite are very good and she is happy to have the lump and stitches removed.