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If not for Fergie, my little rescue dog, I'd stay indoors on this cold, windy day, but I bundled up and we walked almost a mile down the desert arroyo.

It was so cold, she was shaking in her winter coat, but I was also frozen. But once we started home, and were sheltered by houses, she began wagging her tail and went dancing up the sidewalk.

I've been jittery about taking Fergie in the desert, since three days ago, when the male Cooper's hawk came silently from behind me, probably for his usual enthusiastic greeting.

Fergie suddenly yelped and jumped forward to press against my leg as a huge shadow flashed past, and I looked up to see the hawk receding in a flat glide, straight away from me at eye level, looking 2-dimensional.

The hawk was calling to me in that nasal, whining cry that Cooper's hawks use with family members.

The youngster probably just startled her, but she was no doubt remembering how one of the juvenile male Cooper's hawk siblings tried to grab her in July.

birdingnut 8 Dec 16
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LOVE that photo! A Cooper's lives in a large bush in my yard...very near all the feeders. It's amazing to see how quickly it performs its feedings and how much finesse is involved! Most of the time, you're not even sure you really saw what you THINK you saw, when it takes a bird!

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