Cooper’s Hawk
The Cooper’s Hawk (Accipiter cooperii) is a medium-sized hawk native to the North American continent and found from southern Canada to Mexico. This species is a member of the genus Accipiter, sometimes referred to as true hawks, which are famously agile, relatively small hawks common to wooded habitats around the world and also the most diverse of all diurnal raptor genera. As in many birds of prey, the male is smaller than the female. The birds found east of the Mississippi River tend to be larger on average than the birds found to the west. It is easily confused with the smaller but similar sharp-shinned hawk. (A. striatus) Cooper’s hawk is a medium-sized hawk and relatively large for an Accipiter. Compared to related species, they tend to have moderate-length wings, a long, often graduated or even wedge-shaped tail and long though moderately thick legs and toes. Their eyes tend to be set well forward in the sides of the relatively large and squarish-looking head (though the head can look somewhat rounded if the feathers on the nape are held flush) and a relatively short but robust bill. They have hooked bills that are well-adapted for tearing the flesh of prey, as is typical of raptorial birds. Generally, Cooper’s hawks can be considered secretive, often perching within the canopy, but can use more open perches, especially in the western part of the range or in winter when they may use leafless or isolated trees, utility poles or exposed stumps. On perched hawks, the wing-tips tend to appear to cover less than one third of the tail, sometimes seeming to barely cover the covert feathers. As adults, they may be a solid blue-gray or brown-gray color above. Adults usually have a well-defined crown of blackish-brown feathers above a paler nape and hindneck offset against their streaked rufous cheeks. Their tail is blue-gray on top and pale underneath, barred with three black bands in a rather even pattern and ending in a rather conspicuous white tip. The adult’s underside shows a bit of whitish base color overlaid heavily with coarse, irregular rufous to cinnamon bands, though these narrow into marginal shaft streaks around the throat. Against the rich color on the rest of the underside, the pure white crissum on adults is conspicuous.
Photo Gallery
HJ Ruiz – November 12th, 2023
H.J. Ruiz - Avian101 
Cooper’s hawks always make me laugh, because I remember a very specific one that used to be around my neighborhood. I had bird feeders in the middle of the yard on shepherd’s crooks, and I kept finding feathers on the ground around them. Eventually I found the culprit. The Cooper’s was keeping watch from the luggage rack on top of a Ford Explorer that parked nearby. It gave him a perfect line of sight, and a straight shot to the bird feeders. Clever bird!
They are so handsome, these Cooper’s hacks that anything they do is ok! I enjoy my photographs. Thank you , Linda… 🙂 ❤️
Wonderful to see this series of the Cooper’s Hawks, H.J. They are such adept and fierce raptors. Your photo of the CH on the railing demonstrates their powerful legs, and I love the attentive look in the eyes.
They are so beautiful birds! Thank you, Jet! Take care… 🙂
Aren’t they beautiful!! I’ve had one on my fence twice this week hoping for a Sparrow breakfast. I wish I was out there in a blind to capture the image, but I only snagged a crappy image between the screen and window. You got awesome images!!
They are beautiful, but they are also predators, you have to watch them thinking that predators hunt preys, and if you are watching get the prey, you might not like it. Thank you so much, Deborah. 🙂
That doesn’t bother me as much as it does a lot of others. It’s the circle of life, and the Hawks need to eat too. They play a huge role in keeping down our rodent population here for which I’m grateful for. Living next to a huge open space there are field mice everywhere.