I spotted this bird from a distance on Friday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge when it was perched and when it took to the air. The tail struck me as being exceptionally long and the wings seemed relatively short in length, so I decided it was probably not a Red-shouldered Hawk or a Red-tailed Hawk, the two most common hawks where I live. Was it a falcon or one of the smaller hawks?
As I usually do in situations like this, I asked for help in a Facebook group devoted to birding in Virginia. Some experts there identified this as a mature Cooper’s Hawk (Accipiter cooperii). The Cornell Lab of Ornithology described the species with these words, “Among the bird world’s most skillful fliers, Cooper’s Hawks are common woodland hawks that tear through cluttered tree canopies in high speed pursuit of other birds…Finding a Cooper’s Hawk is typically a matter of keeping your eyes peeled – they’re common but stealthy, and smaller than other common hawks like the red-tailed, so your eye might skip over them in flight.”
Cooper’s Hawks are about the size of crows, although males are significantly smaller than their mates. Mating can therefore be a tricky proposition for a male Cooper’s Hawk, given that females Cooper’s Hawks specialize in eating smaller birds.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
The Cooper’s Hawk is the most common hawk here in the Tucson area, the density of which is the highest found anywhere, We see them daily. We have ravens here, not crows, which are much bigger than both the crow and the hawk. Occasionally, the ravens like to pester the hawks having aerial fights making a lot of noise.
Wow, kenne, I never knew that there were so many Cooper’s Hawks in that area. I generally see only a few of them each year. I can only imagine what it is like to see the hawks and ravens in aerial combat.
Nice Mike! AlwYs fun to photograph Hawks!
Thanks, Reed. We have Sharp-shinned hawks and Cooper’s hawks, both of them on the small side, but I don’t see them very often, so am really happy to spot one of them.
Very nice in-flight shot, Mike!
These speedsters are not easy to photograph.
Thanks, Wally. I was a long way away when I took the shot, so I am happy that I was able to capture a recognizable shot of the hawk as it was flying.
Beautiful bird and one formidable hunter!
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Perfect! My attempts at capturing birds in flight are often blurry.
Nice shots, Mike. Hawks are always fun to photograph although we don’t have this particular type here.
Thanks, Chris. It is always fun to photograph raptors, including relatively small ones like this hawk.
Very nice flight shot, Mike!
Thanks, Steve. This is a pretty severe crop–when I am shooting from that far away, I consider a shot like this to be mostly luck.
Nice set, Mike. One bird I do NOT like to see around my bird feeders!
Thanks, Eliza. I have heard that these hawks sometime regard bird feeders as a buffet, and not because of the seeds.
Exactly! I feel super guilty if one gets hit, because I drew the wee one to its doom.
The Romans had their Appian Way. You’ve been following the Avian Way in recent posts.
🙂 When the weather gets cold and the insects disappear, I can choose to stay indoors or switch subjects–I choose the avian way.