The Canyon (Financial) District
The Rock-Dove is a remarkable flier. She can adjust her short wings and tail within a fraction of a second to account for a strong and sudden gust of wind. Evolution insists on these precise adjustments and movements when you nest and fly and feed near the walls of cliffs and in canyons... These Doves must change with the wind that is channeled through the canyon, or bounce off the rock walls themselves. The city offers many of the same challenges, and the Rock Dove thrives here too, living under its urban nickname the Pigeon. The wind that blows down the canyon floor of the financial district is a force to reckon with, especially considering the way traffic enhances the danger and unpredictabilty. Yet a sudden blast of air from a bus speeding by is taken in stride, and the Rock Dove simply flaps on.
Eternally Bonded
The Rock Dove, although magnificent, is not the top of the canyon (city) food chain. Indeed they are (and have always been) culled by the Falcon; bonded eternally as bio-regional foes. I sat reading in Dolores Park (my surrogate wilderness) sometime last year, I looked up from my book coincidentally at a beautiful moment; the timeless wild was revealing twenty feet in front of me... I watched as a Falcon struck a pigeon from above. The force of the blow pushed the Pigeon into the grass, where it fought for its life, trying to get out from under the Falcon, as it in turn tried to hold on tearing feathers from the Pigeon's back, leaving little grey clouds behind them. Somehow the Pigeon managed to get out from under the Falcon and back into the air, it joined its fellows there, falling into evasive formation flying, confusing and frustrating the Falcon. The Falcon settled in a tree, quite close to me and rested for nearly an hour, I watched it the whole time in wonder. No doubt it was exhausted, and even more hungry.
(photo notes: from the internet)
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