Cooper’s Hawk

Cooper’s and Sharp-shinned hawks can be hard to tell apart, despite their not overlapping in size. This large Cooper’s Hawk, accompanied by over a dozen angry crows, flew into a small grove of tall conifer trees at Olympia’s KGY Point on 23 August 2019. The dull, not bright orange eyes indicate that the bird is immature. Along with its large size, other field marks include the relatively long, somewhat rounded tail—the outer tail feathers are at least a centimeter shorter than the central ones; the breast streaks are thin; the head is more oval than it is round; and the legs are relatively large.

Cooper’s Hawks breed from southern Canada south through most of the United States and into Mexico. Northern birds move south in the winter through most of Mexico as far as  northern Central America. This hawk preys upon medium-sized birds and mammals and inhabit forestlands, including urban woodlands. This hawk was named after a New York ornithologist, James Cooper, in the early 1800s.