David White

This is the second time I've been knocked out of the air by a clue like "a bird's dramatic dive". I always use "stoop" unstead of "swoop". To me, a swoop implies a dive...for sure...with a curved movement somewhere in the execution. I've seen lots of birds swoop...but I've only seen one bird stoop. It was a falcon...and dove on a pigeon in flight...starting high, high above it's target. The falcon folded its wings tight against its body and dropped like a stone...straight down....accelerating all the way and hit the pigeon in an explosion of feathers...and followed the prey's fall to the ground. That, my fellow crossworders was dramatic. Swoops are pretty. Stoops are breathtaking.