I saw similar behavior at Juanita Bay Park in October. It was early
morning, and the hawk was simply perching toward the top of a deciduous
tree fanning its tail for quite some time. The sun had come out, but it
was a pretty dew-laden morning (I think it had rained that night). I
figure it was drying its feathers. It didn't fly during the 30-40 minutes
I was there, but it spent quite some time there on that same spot doing
this fanning bit.

Ned McGarry
Kirkland, WA
nmcgarry at gte.net

-----Original Message-----
From: MurrayH at aol.com [SMTP:MurrayH at aol.com]
Sent: Friday, November 27, 1998 7:39 PM
To: Tweeters at u.washington.edu
Subject: Cooper's Hawk

Just yesterday, we observed a Cooper's Hawk exhibiting some strange (to us)
behavior: first perched at the very top of a tall Douglas Fir, it spread
its
wings and tail for moments on end; then, it appeared on the ground in
front
of our herb garden sage patch where our ground-feeding birds hide, and,
again,
spread both its wings and tail and remained poised in that position for
perhaps 10 to 20 seconds before hopping a few paces and, then again,
spreading
its wings and tail for a few more seconds before it flew away. Any other
similar observations out there? Any written accounts? It was really an
amazing display!

Murray Hansen
Graham, WA
MurrayH at aol.com