A medium-sized accipiter with short rounded wings and a long banded tail, built for explosive ambush attacks on songbirds at backyard feeders. Cooper's hawks have adapted remarkably well to suburbia.
§ Quick facts
§ Encyclopedia
Cooper's hawk is a medium-sized hawk native to the North American continent and found from southern Canada to Mexico. This species was formerly placed in the genus Accipiter.
Source: Wikipedia — Cooper's hawk Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
§ Identification
Field marks. Slate-blue back (adults), rufous-barred underparts. Long banded tail with rounded tip. Females larger.
Similar species. Sharp-shinned Hawk (smaller, square tail). Northern Goshawk (much larger, gray back).
Voice. Sharp "kek-kek-kek" near nest.
§ Diet & behavior
Diet. Songbirds (primary), small mammals (squirrels, chipmunks); takes prey to ~1.5 lb.
Behavior. Adapted impressively to suburbia. Famously crashes through branches in low-altitude pursuit; 23% of museum specimens show healed fractures.
§ Range
Throughout the contiguous US and southern Canada; year-round in much of range
§ Habitat
Mature deciduous and mixed forests, suburban edges, increasingly urban yards
§ Threats
Window strikes during high-speed chases, secondary rodenticide poisoning, historic DDT damage.
§ Conservation status
According to the IUCN Red List, the cooper's hawk is currently classified as Least Concern.
§ What helps
Use bird-safe window markings near feeders. Pause feeder stations a week if a Cooper's is hunting — they'll move on. Avoid second-generation rodenticides.
§ Further reading
- Wikipedia — Cooper's hawk
- www.allaboutbirds.org — authoritative profile of Accipiter cooperii
- IUCN Red List · taxon 22695656
- iNaturalist · taxon 5097
- eBird · coohaw
- GBIF occurrence records
- Encyclopedia of Life — Accipiter cooperii
§ Sources cited
- Cornell Lab — All About Birds
- HawkWatch International
- The Peregrine Fund
- IUCN Red List 2016
