At last!  After weeks of no rain we’ve had a serious soaking today.  The grass was brown and dormant but today it revived and is showing a bit of green.   

The birds are happy about the rain too.  This morning while I walked to work I saw:

• An adult red-tailed hawk perched on the antenna of Carnegie-Mellon’s Warner Hall.  The red-tail spread its wings in an arc and held its head up as the rain ran down its wings and back.  He was enjoying every minute of his long-awaited bath.
• A flock of house sparrows bathed in a puddle on the sidewalk.  Very splashy and cute!
• Two Cooper’s hawks – an adult and a juvenile – perched next to each other on the fence at our neighborhood ball field.  Cooper’s hawks are notoriously solitary so I assume these two were related.  I thought they were enjoying the rain until I noticed their attention was focused on a flock of five crows walking on the field.  A sixth crow raided the garbage cans below them.  The crows silently eyed the hawks.  The juvenile “Coop” broke the tension by making a low swooping pass at the crows.  The adult Cooper’s hawk waited a bit, then made the same swooping pass.  Then both hawks flew away.  The crows were unfazed and returned to their watery games and garbage feast.

(photo of an adult Coopers hawk by Cris Hamilton)