Mourning Doves Are Always Happy: In my capacity as a nature geek (what? you thought geeks only liked PSP and the Internets?), I feel obliged to tell you that today I was witness to a falcon attack on an unsuspecting but agile mourning dove. I was riding my bike to work along Ballona Creek when a falcon divebombed the unsuspecting little mourning dove that had just alighted on the ground beneath the falcon's favorite palm tree. There was a great clamouring of feathers, but the dove totally unhanded itself from the grasp of the falcon. It flew off and the falcon had the gall to chase it, but not before a flock of sparrows joined the interspecies fun and started chasing the falcon that was chasing the dove. I have no idea what became of any of them after they disappeared over the bank of the creek, but I think the dove made it out okay.

Of Trolls and Bridges:
Also, in other Creek-related news, "they" seem to have the homeless colony that lived under the last bridge. Naturally, as with all clear-cutting, the area was quickly repopulated by aggressive, invasive species. In this case, gangmember-ish types. The homeless people always made me feel safe when I rode by, because they were happy at home and it was in everyone's best interest to play nice. I feel less certain about the hoodlums who have replaced the once-homed homeless.