About 9:45 this morning I was driving  across the  American Legion Bridge,
from Va. to Md, en route to Great Falls. As I started across the bridge, I
noticed a cormorant flying down river, a couple  of hundred feet over the
bridge, near the Md. shore.  By the time I got to the middle of the bridge,
the bird had cleared the road and was flying over open water, when suddenly
it just dropped, almost straight down, in a manner that seemed very unusual
for a cormorant.  A second later I found out why.  Almost immediately, from
higher up in the sky and a bit behind my car, came a bird  with the
unmistakable shape of a Peregrine Falcon diving (stooping) toward exactly
the area that the cormorant had fallen from. The falcon's wings were not
tight against the body, but back about 3/4 in that unmistakable crescent or
scimitar shape of a stooping falcon. The action was all over in about five,
VERY EXCITING, seconds, as both birds disappeared below my sight line. But,
it sure was fun and exciting while it lasted. WOW!   I have never seen this
sort of aerial action on the bridge before. But I do often see one or the
other resident Peregrine Falcons perched on a snag  on one side of the river
or the other near the bridge.
So, if you drive across that bridge keep your eyes open!  You just never
know what you might see.
-- 
Donald Sweig
Falls Church, Va.