In the Blink of an Eye ....

A Peregrine Falcon comes out of nowhere and arrives on the scene. The scene is thousands of semipalmated sandpipers. The raptor's m mission is to cull one out the flock. Despite the Peregine's impressive speed, it is not an easy task. Their shorebird prey have a ton of tricks up their wing sleeves and are always up to the task being chased. For example, sandpipers can angle/turn much sharper than a falcon analagous to sports car vs an 18-wheeler -and that can make or break an attack. Also, notice in the image that one sandpiper's wing is protruding from the ocean. It has not been struck but has performed a ditch. Ditching is a tactic that is used when the falcon is too close for comfort and death imminent - so they cut their forward motion and plunge into the water - allowing their predator to overshoot them ... and then escape in the other direction.