Cooper's Hawk

Cooper's Hawk

Cooper's Hawk is a mid-sized woodland accipiter found across North America, well known for its agile, fast pursuit flight through dense cover as it hunts smaller birds. Once considered strictly a forest bird, it has increasingly adapted to wooded suburban neighborhoods, where it often hunts around bird feeders.

Its short, rounded wings and long, rudder-like tail give exceptional maneuverability among trees, a build shared with other accipiters but at a size intermediate between the smaller Sharp-shinned Hawk and larger Northern Goshawk.

Identifying Cooper's Hawk Feathers

• Primaries/secondaries: short and rounded, blue-grey above in adults (brown in juveniles), pale below with fine dark barring.
• Tail feathers: long and rounded at the tip, with several broad dark bands and a distinct wide white terminal band, generally more evenly rounded than the Sharp-shinned Hawk's more squared tail tip.
• Body feathers: adult underparts feathers are white finely barred with rufous; juveniles show brown streaking rather than barring on a whiter background.
• Crown feathers: adults often show a darker cap contrasting with paler grey-blue nape, a subtle field mark.
• Size overlap with Sharp-shinned Hawk makes exact identification difficult from a single feather, but Cooper's Hawk feathers average larger, with a more rounded tail tip and thicker shaft.

Plumage

Adults have blue-grey upperparts, a darker crown, red eyes, and white underparts finely barred with rufous. Juveniles are brown above with heavy dark streaking on a whitish or buffy breast, taking about two years to reach full adult plumage. Females are notably larger than males, though plumage pattern is similar between the sexes. Molt typically occurs during the breeding season.

Habitat & Range

Found across most of the United States, southern Canada, and Mexico, in deciduous and mixed woodland, forest edge, and, increasingly, wooded suburban and urban areas. Northern populations migrate south for winter, while many populations further south are resident year-round.

Behavior & Field Notes

Cooper's Hawks hunt primarily by ambush, using dense cover and fast, agile flight to surprise birds and small mammals, and are frequently observed near bird feeders where prey congregates. They build a stick nest in a tree, often reusing or rebuilding near previous nest sites. Calls include a sharp, repeated 'kek-kek-kek' near the nest. A blue-grey or brown-streaked feather with a broadly banded, rounded tail tip found near woodland or suburban trees is consistent with this species, though care should be taken to rule out the smaller Sharp-shinned Hawk.