Cooper's Hawk (Accipiter cooperii)

Order: Accipitriformes Family: Accipitridae Genus: Accipiter Species: cooperii Profile: 3 positives 1 neutral 1 negative Regional... This bird has been reportedly found in the following regions: Auburn, Alabama Vincent, Alabama Mesa, Arizona Tucson, Arizona , British Columbia Kelowna, British Columbia , California Cardiff By The Sea, California Fallbrook, California Hinkley, California Menifee, California Brooksville, Florida Clermont, Florida Hudson, Florida Lake City, Florida Quincy, Florida South Daytona, Florida Trenton, Florida Rock Falls, Illinois Tinley Park, Illinois Coatesville, Indiana Indianapolis, Indiana Des Moines, Iowa Yale, Iowa Hebron, Kentucky Baton Rouge, Louisiana Buckfield, Maine Linthicum, Maryland Dearborn Heights, Michigan Saint Clair Shores, Michigan Deephaven, Minnesota New Hope, Minnesota Conway, Missouri Marlton, New Jersey Elephant Butte, New Mexico Concord, North Carolina Huntersville, North Carolina Bay View, Ohio Columbus, Ohio Hilliard, Ohio Huber Heights, Ohio Pleasant Grove, Ohio Gold Hill, Oregon Monroe, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Roscoe, Pennsylvania Hartsville, South Carolina Summertown, Tennessee Austin, Texas Euless, Texas Everman, Texas Plano, Texas Watauga, Texas Member Notes: Rating Author Comment Neutral GramaMeow On Apr 22, 2009, GramaMeow from Wayzata, MN wrote: Twice I have witnessed a Cooper's Hawk fly to the ground, walk to a bush and peer up inside of it trying to flush out the songbirds who had just escaped its talons at the birdfeeder. Pretty smart bird! Negative themikeman On Dec 23, 2010, themikeman from Concord, NC (Zone 7a) wrote: I usually love seeing large regal hawks and bird of prey but this bird is just nasty. it has really hot ugly and aggresive energy about it, whenever it comes onto my property or the neighboors yard, stalking sparrows and beautiful song birds. This past june 2010 i witnessed the same nasty Cooper's hawk that usually just stalks from up in my back neighboors oak tree, fly into my front yard and visciously grab a large skinny male catbird and visciously toy with it in its talons while starting to rip it's head off and devour it while it was still half alive. i love animals and birds, and do not hunt, and usually would never kill anything, but im 99.9 % sure that the next time i am close enough to this particular skeevy hearted bird he is going to get shot, stuffed and mounted on a somebody's wall. mike Positive joycemarie1212 On Feb 7, 2011, joycemarie1212 from Plano, TX wrote: Although I can understand themikeman's frustration with the Cooper's Hawk and the experiences he has had, I do not understand why themikeman would want to kill it. After all, it IS a bird of prey that must feed itself and chicks if they are present in the nest. I cringe when I see one swoop upon a dove or a squirrel, of course, but do not wish in turn to violate the terms of nature--i.e., the survival of the fittest. They are beautiful birds, never nasty in any way that I've observed. Positive ssherm_larch On Sep 26, 2011, ssherm_larch from CARDIFF BY THE SEA, CA wrote: While grisly, raptors perform an important function thinning out weaker birds and keeping pest birds in check. While they may take some more colorful and less populous birds like Oriels, they mostly feast on finches and sparrows in my yard. There have been some very interesting recent studies on predators like wolves, that seem to imply that ecosystems can collapse when predators are removed from the environment. I say, enjoy them for their natural beauty and just look away when they eat. I included a photo of one of my visitors perched on my bird bath. He (or she) ignored my dogs, and let me get quite close to take that photo. Positive Chillybean On Aug 13, 2012, Chillybean from Near Central, IA (Zone 4a) wrote: When we first met a Cooper's, I was in awe seeing it perch outside our bird view window. It was seen only the once that winter. We didn't know much about him at the time, but did notice it was awfully quiet at the feeders. By the next winter, having learned more of the hawk, we used to go out and chase it off when ever we saw it near our place. Especially after seeing several Junco feather piles. The Dark-eyed Junco is our favorite winter bird. That following spring, our opinion changed somewhat. We didn't see the kill (Not sure I'd ever wish to), but it had supper when we did. A child noticed it eating when he glanced out the dining room window. It had a larger bird- maybe grackle sized and other then a few feathers, it wasted nothing. We also witnessed it dive for a rat that was eating from our squirrel twirly-gig corn cob feeder. Anything that eat rats rate high in my opinion. After doing some asking around, we learned that Cooper's hawks, like most species, are opportunists when it comes to food. Though their diet usually consists of medium to small sized birds, if a rodent is right there, it's going to grab it. Also, the more inexperienced Cooper's will hunt rodents rather than fast flying birds. So this past winter when we saw ol' Coop, we set our minds to enjoy him/her, knowing he is as much a part of nature as anything else. Though saddened at any loss of a Junco or Goldfinch, we know it also eats less desirable creatures.

By burn_2007 By pelletory By pelletory By Mrs_Ed By Mrs_Ed By okus By Calif_Sue There are a total of 37 photos. Click here to view them all!