I hear unmistakable screams and turn around, trying to figure out where he is flying. A split second and I find him in front of me. The pilgrim suddenly emerges from behind the foliage of a hornbeam tree, comes straight towards me but, at the last moment, makes a wide turn and heads towards the heart of the valley, where he is reunited with another young peregrine, no doubt a brother. In no time they both disappear from sight, behind the far slope. I look at the camera monitor: a few good shots are there.
It cannot be denied that evolution with the peregrine falcon has achieved a true masterpiece: a perfect synthesis of power, lightness and elegance. It is a true totemic animal, capable of creating a close bond – if not a veritable obsession – in many humans who continue to have the good fortune to follow it as its unmistakable silhouette streaks across the sky like a thunderbolt.
One cannot explain, on the other hand, the success of a famous book: The Peregrine by J.A.Baker, published back in 1967, when these birds of prey were in a very critical situation due to DDT poisoning.
Fortunately, after the ban on DDT, things went back to normal and the peregrines continue to fly the skies, play their ecological role and feed the imagination of mankind.