Harris's Hawk

[trisha wlodarczyk <twlodarczyksprint at earthlink dot net>]

Yesterday morning...
I looked in the backyard and saw a Very Large Hawk.  That of course was not too surprising... what was surprising and terribly fascinating to watch was what the hawk was doing.  It started out walking along the grass in the middle of the yard, very cautiously, toward the kiddie pool that we leave out for our dog.  When it got to the edge of the pool it opened its wings, lifted itself up on the edge, and left its wings spread out for about 10-15 seconds.  An amazing sight.  It then proceeded to sidestep along the edge of the pool until it got to the point where the water was the highest. It actually reached down and took about 8 drinks over the span of about 5 minutes.  NEXT, it hopped into the pool and started taking a bath!  It got back out and fluffed its feathers a few times and then got back in for a second dip... this time it actually spent a great deal of time dipping its head under the water and shaking off a few times.  After bathing, it perched on the edge of the pool for a few minutes before taking flight.  
This was my first sight of a Harris's Hawk... I have not seen them in our area before.  ( Draper- 119th South, 800 West)  I did take several pictures, but not with a digital camera... I will have the film developed with the pictures on a CD so that I can post them.

Has anyone else seen this sort of behavior?

Trish Wlodarczyk


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