On several occasions I have seen a Coopers hawk fly into our cedar tree or
trellis and just sit there. All the birds scatter. For awhile. After a
few minutes they come back out again and the Coop drops on one. From my
vantage point, about 8 feet off the ground looking out the window, the hawk
is obvious, but I guess from the ground it must not be, either that or birds
have short attention spans. Today it was a towhee who hid for about 4
minutes, then figured the coast must be clear and hopped back out into the
open. The hawk was perched almost directly above it and just soft of hopped
down and got the Towhee. Pretty easy work, no chase, no fuss. In my yard
the early bird may get the worm, but the perched hawk gets the bird.

Rob Sandelin
Naturalist, Writer, Teacher
Snohomish County, WA