COOPERS HAWK
The Cooper's Hawk is pretty common in backyards that have feeders. That’s probably because they prey mostly on small birds. If you notice the birds singing in your yard abruptly stop or you see a bunch of birds fly away suddenly, there might be a Cooper’s Hawk nearby looking for a bite to eat. If they can’t catch a small bird, they also love lizards, rats and mice.
Probably the smallest of the hawks here in the canyon, they have a long striped tail tail that is easily as long as their body. Young Cooper’s Hawks have yellow eyes, pale brown back, brown barring in the wings and a white chest with brown streaks. As they mature, their eyes turn a deep red and they develop a darker brown back, black cap and a rust-striped chest.
Named after the naturalist William Cooper, one of the founders of the New York Lyceum of Natural History, Cooper’s Hawks fly with a “flap-flap-glide” pattern. You will rarely see them flapping continuously. Unlike our other neighborhood hawks, Cooper’s tend to fly closer to the ground, favoring flying under trees or just over the top of them rather than circling high above.
The most common Cooper’s Hawk calls are a “cak-cak-cak” that they give in defense of their nest, or a “kik” used to tell their mate where they are.