Being close to downtown and having pigeons I have attracted the attention of a few raptors to my yard. I hate to say,, but I am not gonna miss them falcons very much! Although I really only had a visit from the falcon one time that I know of. Cooper hawks are the really backyard predators! The female Cooper is quite a bit larger than the males and they look very close to the peregrine. I have come to learn quite a bit about them, as they will frequent my yard a lot in the early spring! If I had to guess,, coopers are what is snatchin up your doves Jack. Perigrenes are unlikely visitors of feeders, as they are open air hunters. peregrines have a built in breast plate made for 180 mph dives,, what they do is start out way above their prey and smash into them on a dive,, that will knock the bird out. Then the falcon will come to the ground and finish off the bird. Coopers on the other hand a very notorious for stealthy approaches and sneaking up on bird feeders and such. They kill by the element of surprise, roaming in and out of trees. They learn and pattern bird feeders and gathering spots for prey birds very well and SURPRISE they attack and kill on the spot. I have had them kill my pigeons right in front of me 2 feet away and never notice me standing there till I surprise them. A peregrines eyes are positioned far enough apart that they cant look straight ahead,, so while on a dive for prey,, they must twist back and forth to keep a side view of their prey. That is what makes them inefficient at ground level attacks. If I am not mistaken,, the peregrines were taken off the endangered species list this year. They have made a great come back in recent years. I wanna say that female raised young downtown for 12 years up until this year? A shame she had to end this way! I think she had 3 different mates over the 12 years. Mother nature has a funny way of doing things,, but watch and see if we don't get a new pair here real soon. I believe that female was originally from Iowa and the last male was a unbanded wild bird!