Three years ago, a pair of Coopers Hawks would pull this same trick in my
birdbath in Ijamsville. They spent an entire summer throwing all the water
out of the birdbath by mid morning, both trying to squeeze inside and
throwing water across their backs in a similar manner. I spent each
afternoon filling the shallow bath until September, when I assumed their
nesting attempts failed and they departed south. Although I did find the
nest when the leaves dropped, I never saw a single juvenile winging through
the backyard.

On Wed, Sep 8, 2010 at 6:19 AM, Steve Long <> wrote:
> This morning, a Coopers Hawk decided to take a break in our backyard
birdbath near Annapolis.  He sat there for a while, so we got a great look.
 A squirrel didn't notice that the bird in the bath wasn't one of the usual
doves until he got within about 4 feet, then he sat-up, took a good look,
and decided that the far side of a tree trunk was a safer place.  The hawk
watched him approach, but didn't seem scared or predatory.  Before leaving
the bath, the hawk did a pretty good imitation of a robin, throwing water
all over him(?)self.  Then he flew up to a low limb and sat for several
minutes before flying our-of-sight.  Of course, there were NO other birds in
the yard for a while after.
>
> I guess he is migrating, although we did see a similar-sized hawk high is
some trees in our yard a few weeks ago.  We couldn't get a good look before,
because that hawk stayed in thick foliage or on the far side of tree trunks.
>



-- 
Alexander Baish
Ocean City (home)
Tempe, AZ (school)