Brown Thrasher pair in pine tree (Toxostoma rufum)

This picture was one of several I took during a really interesting encounter. I first saw these two being chased by a Cooper's Hawk around and around an overgrown wooden outhouse (part of Patuxent NWR used to be an army base and where this was taken used to be a firing range). The Thrashers were staying low and zipping through the brush that had grown up around and through the outhouse. The Cooper's Hawk was keeping to the air and looked very clumsy as it tried to circle tightly while flying so slow. After 2 1/2 turns around the building, the hawk gave up and these Brown Thrashers retired to a nearby pine tree.