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Coopers Hawk - a new yard companion...

21 years ago

Posted this on the bird forum but fig'd maybe someone would like to see a pic of our new visitor.

SOO My ole' friend here, stopped off for some coffee at about 11:00, his usual brunch... !!!!!!!! He's been coming daily for about a week + now, and today sat atop of our trampoline in the back for a secretive photo shoot before he spotted me and flew to a farther tree.

No catches today, even thou he snagged up a Starling a few days ago.

Seems to be his new hang out every morning/11am sharp.

{{!gwi}}
-Michelle

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Comments (9)

daves_world
21 years ago
Great pic, looks like something has got his attention.
Elly_NJ
21 years ago
OK, don't anyone groan, but I don't think that's a Cooper's hawk. I will tell you why: First off, the body and head looks buteo-ish. Like a Red-shouldered. The legs are not long, like accipiter legs. But the real giveaway are the feet. Coops have a long, skinny middle toe. These feet look like buteo feet.

Michelle, did he have areally long tail?

Nice picture.
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Hi Claire, Found this old thread; thought I'd rehash the past. Ha! I can't help myself. I'm a hawk watcher. Your opening photos were undoubtedly an accipiter. The grey/black banded tail is the dead giveaway. The length of it is more pronounced than that of any buteo. The wing tips of a Red-shouldered Hawk come just about to the tip of the tail when perched. A Red-shouldered would never have grey/black as its tail colors and wouldn't have such a distinction between tip of wing to tip of tail. Also, notice how widely spaced the banding on the tail is; a RSHA juvenile would have narrowly-spaced light brown/dark brown banding on a much shorter, tapered tail. Juv RSHA would have heart-shaped streaking on chest down to the belly. Since you have familiarity with the small size of Sharpies and believed this to be too large, I'd day you had a juvenile Cooper's hawk here. Also, Blue Jays frequently imitate Red-shouldereds to freak out feeding birds and lay claim to what they leave behind. Tricksy birds, they are. Perhaps you've heard them do that. But you may have heard a RSHA in your woods as they seem to cling to the east coast year-round rather than fully migrate out. This post was edited by TMFF on Thu, Feb 7, 13 at 17:31
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Hi all, I'm new here, (2nd post) but that photo looks like a Cooper's Hawk to me. Here's a shot of (what was ID'd by others as) a Red-Shouldered Hawk: Pretty, but pretty different I think. I have some other shots of this guy at the link below. Kenn Here is a link that might be useful: Red-Shouldered Hawk
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sterna
21 years ago
No its definately a coopers hawk, where do you get red shouldered from lol? The streaking on red shouldereds looks nothing like that, much more heavily streaked and blotchy.
Nathan
dakster
21 years ago
I dunno, I am not so good at raptors. Although, Sibley is pointing me towards 1st year Cooper's. I wish we could see his/her tail.
luc_quebec
21 years ago
Sorry dear Elly but I go with Nathan on this one.

Luc
rosespetal
Original Author
21 years ago
His tail was pretty long, but I dont know much on him overall at all for ID, the going call was Coop (so I wrote below) but I personally haven't a clue here's a few more pics of him that I printed today for my neighbor (who calls me Elly Mae Crampet lol) he didn't believe me on the hawks that come and sit in our yards.

He comes often to the yard, daily, sometimes twice a day :O

He did have 2 RTH trying to steal his dinner last week, now THAT was a show!
He also sounds like a crying baby, he will on occassion sit in a low tree in my back yard and whine (so weird!)
{{!gwi}}
-Michelle
rosespetal
Original Author
21 years ago
Here's the whole view of the initial pic.
{{!gwi}}

:)Michelle
sterna
21 years ago
Confirms its a coopers hawk.
Nathan
Elly_NJ
21 years ago
Yes, that tail really shows the distinctive Cooper's curve.

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