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May High Desert Bird of the Month - Cooper's Hawk 

Cooper's Hawk is a medium-sized hawk with the classic accipiter shape: broad, rounded wings and a very long tail. In Cooper's Hawks, the head often appears large, the shoulders broad, and the tail rounded. Adults are steely blue-gray above with warm reddish bars on the underparts and thick dark bands on the tail. Juveniles are brown above and crisply streaked with brown on the upper breast, giving them a somewhat hooded look.

Look for Cooper's Hawks to fly with a flap-flap-glide pattern typical of accipiters. Even when crossing large open areas they rarely flap continuously. Another attack maneuver is to fly fast and low to the ground, then up and over an obstruction to surprise prey on the other side.

The Cooper's Hawk is often confused with its lookalike counterpart, the Sharp-shinned Hawk.

Separating Sharp-shinned Hawks from Cooper's Hawks is one of the classic birding challenges. Cooper's Hawks have a larger head that juts farther out ahead of the wings compared with Sharp-shinned's pinhead. Cooper's have "hackles" that are sometimes raised, giving them a fierce look versus Sharp-shinned's more timid, round head. When perched, look for Cooper's Hawk's thicker legs and big feet.

Fun Facts:

• Female Cooper's Hawks are about 30% larger than their male counterparts.
• Cooper's Hawks have short, powerful wings and a long tail; these adaptations give them the ability to be highly maneuverable in dense forest habitats. But even with their incredible agility, a recent study showed that 23% of all of the Cooper's Hawks examined had healed fractures in the bones of their chest.
• About a third of all attempts by Cooper's Hawks to capture food are successful.
• After capturing its prey, Cooper's Hawks have been occasionally observed to drown their victim by holding it under water.
• While Cooper's Hawks will prey on a wide variety of birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians, some of their most common quarry include Mourning Doves, American Robins, Jays, Northern Flicker, European Starling and chipmunks.
• One study in New York documented that each Cooper's Hawk nestling consumed 11 items of prey per week.
• Cooper's Hawks have been known to cache uneaten prey in trees for later use.

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