Monday morning (Jan. 1) as I was walking on the east side of Larsen L. in
Bellevue I came up on a Cooper's Hawk perched about 10' high in some brush.
I was only about 12-15' away from it. It really startled me to come up on
it so close. It had both its wings and tail in spread position. It looked
wet and bedraggled. I was surprised it didn't fly off right away so I
backed off a few feet and watched. After 20-30 sec. it flew off but
appeared to be laboring in its flight. It only flew about 50 yards and lit
about 30' feet up in a tree. It again spread its wings and tail as if
trying to dry them out. It hadn't been raining that morning. When I first
saw the COHA it was about 20 yards from the lake, but couldn't imagine how
it would be wet unless some other bird had forced it down into the water.
Any ideas as to what might have happened or why it had wings & tail spread?
Hugh Jennings
Bellevue, WA
206-746-6351