work in progress

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Marvin Ward phoned the other day to report he had a juvenile peregrine falcon visiting his birdbath off Lovell Road.

At first I was a bit skeptical. Peregrines are here but not in great numbers. I thought that perhaps he was seeing a Cooper's hawk since we have far more of them and I often get phone calls about these gray lanky raptors visiting birdbaths.

But then Marvin started describing his bird in perfect, even minute detail, even noting that the young falcon was beginning to get its gray mustaches on the sides of its head. As it turns out, Marvin is a woodcarver who is used to looking at birds with a sharp eye. He even has a peregrine that he started several years ago that sits unfinished on a shelf in his workroom.

"Oh, a woodcarver is not much of a woodcarver if he doesn't have more projects started than he has finished," Marvin noted with a laugh.

Maybe now that he has been studying peregrines once again, he'll resume work on the one he has in progress.

Thanks, Marvin.

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