I cannot answer your question about Coopers hawks and water but I do have 
another water-related observation that shows that they are not shy about 
getting wet.

In late April, 2003 I was outside at 8:30 PM which was just past dusk.  I 
heard a “screech, screech, screech” cry of terror coming through the front 
yard and then saw a Coopers hawk with something in its talons flying about 
5’ off the ground.  It proceeded to fly down a stone path to a small, 
shallow pond that I own and settled on the path about 3’ from the pond and 
glowered.  It had a robin and the robin is what was screeching.  Even as 
the hawk was sitting on the path, the screeching kept going.  After about 
5 seconds of that, the hawk lifted up off the ground and flew over the 
pond about 2’ from the edge (5’ from where it had first lit).  
It “hunched” it wings so they were only partially spread from its body.  
It had its tail flared and its legs fully extended below its body with the 
robin in its right talons.  The hawk proceeded to let itself settle down 
into the water until it sank deep enough that its wingtips were about 1” 
into the water and its tail was starting to touch the water.  The robin 
quit squawking (since it was totally under water) and then the Coopers 
hawk flew back to the stone sidewalk and sat there and glowered for about 
10 seconds.  The robin was totally silent at that point.  Then the hawk 
took off again and headed for my apple orchard where I’ve seen evidence of 
past meals.  The robin started screeching again as the pair disappeared 
into the twilight.

SO the huge question is:  What was the hawk doing?!  Was it dunking the 
bird to try to drown it?  Was it dunking it to try to make it easier to 
pluck?  The hawk definitely had a methodical plan to its behavior and 
really acted like this was not the first time that it had performed this 
maneuver!  Seeing that was the highlight my day, but I’d really like to 
know what I witnessed!

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