Cooper’s Hawk

Accipiter cooperii
The Cooper’s Hawk is a year-round resident in most of the continental USA. Some will breed into southern Canada and some will winter in Mexico. These raptors specialize in hunting passerine birds and are very skilled at flying through dense growth to reach their prey.
Science does not recognize any subspecies of Cooper’s Hawks, but genetic studies show birds in the upper mid-west USA differ from those found in the Pacific Northwest. This shows a separation in the gene pool, apparently from the divisions created during the last ice age. But for the time being, science considers these hawks monotypic.
My home in southern California hosts nesting Cooper’s Hawks. July is a time I can count on the wheezing calls of juvenile hawks as they insist on being fed by their hard-working parents. Not every year do the young survive. I sometimes find the remains of young birds who didn’t make the grade. When these hawks are about, all the finches, woodpeckers, bluebirds, titmice, and others go on alert, and any bathing or drinking at my home’s water feature gets put on hold.
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Cooper's Hawk(Accipiter cooperii) |
Description: Adult female in Poway. San Diego County, California. |
Date Taken: 2003:10:25 14:29 |
Location:
Poway Grove Park |
Camera Information: NIKON D1X, 800 mm, f/6.0, 1/160 |
File Name: JCD_3692CoopersHawk |
© 2003 Jack Daynes, shadeTree Imaging |


Cooper's Hawk(Accipiter cooperii) |
Description: Juvenile along Monument Road by Border Field and the Tijuana River Mouth near Imperial Beach, California. San Diego County. |
Date Taken: 2013:08:23 8:04 |
Location:
Border Field |
Camera Information: NIKON D3X, 800 mm, f/5.6, 1/2500 |
File Name: D3X1576-CoopersHawk-Juvenile |
© 2013 Jack Daynes, shadeTree-Imaging.com |


Cooper's Hawk(Accipiter cooperii) |
Description: The "Bird and Butterfly Garden" in the Tijuana River Valley. Near San Ysidro, California. San Diego County. |
Date Taken: 2015:02:01 9:24 |
Location:
Bird & Butterfly Garden |
Camera Information: NIKON D3X, 800 mm, f/11.0, 1/1250 |
File Name: D3X6077-CoopersHawk-1 |
© 2015 Jack Daynes, shadeTree-Imaging.com |


Cooper's Hawk(Accipiter cooperii) |
Description: Like most juvenile raptors, this bird's breast pattern gives its age away. Poway. San Diego County, California. |
Date Taken: 2009:08:27 13:06 |
Location:
Poway Grove Park |
Camera Information: NIKON D2X, 550 mm, f/5.6, 1/90 |
File Name: JCD4269.CoopersHawk.Juvenile |
© 2009 Jack Daynes, shadeTree Imaging |


Cooper's Hawk(Accipiter cooperii) |
Description: Dos Picos County Park. Ramona, California. San Diego County. |
Date Taken: 2008:06:26 11:09 |
Location:
Dos Picos Park |
Camera Information: NIKON D2X, 800 mm, f/7.1, 1/160 |
File Name: JCD7459CoopersHawk.Juvenile |
© 2008 Jack Daynes, shadeTree Imaging |


Cooper's Hawk(Accipiter cooperii) |
Description: Male, bathing in Poway. San Diego County, California. |
Date Taken: 2011:05:05 13:16 |
Location:
Poway Grove Park |
Camera Information: NIKON D3X, 800 mm, f/5.6, 1/125 |
File Name: JCD7791-CoopersHawk-Male |
© 2011 Jack Daynes, shadeTree-Imaging.com |


Cooper's Hawk(Accipiter cooperii) |
Description: Female. Captive rehab bird at Sweetwater Marsh NWR. San Diego County, California. |
Date Taken: 2003:05:13 12:00 |
Location:
Chula Vista |
Camera Information: LS-4000, |
File Name: A3F17a22-CoopersHawk |
© 2003 Jack Daynes, shadeTree Imaging |


Cooper's Hawk(Accipiter cooperii) |
Description: Poway. San Diego County, California. |
Date Taken: 2003:10:18 8:08 |
Location:
Poway Grove Park |
Camera Information: NIKON D1X, 800 mm, f/5.6, 1/2000 |
File Name: JCD_3581CoopersHawk |
© 2003 Jack Daynes, shadeTree-Imaging.com |


Cooper's Hawk(Accipiter cooperii) |
Description: Juvenile. Poway. San Diego County, California. |
Date Taken: 2003:10:18 8:08 |
Location:
Poway Grove Park |
Camera Information: NIKON D1X, 800 mm, f/5.6, 1/2000 |
File Name: JCD_3584CoopersHawk |
© 2003 Jack Daynes, shadeTree Imaging |


Cooper's Hawk(Accipiter cooperii) |
Description: Poway California. San Diego County. |
Date Taken: 2018:05:10 17:29 |
Location:
Poway Grove Park |
Camera Information: NIKON D500, 800 mm, f/8.0, 1/640 |
File Name: CoopersHawk_D503899-Poway |
© 2018 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com |


Cooper's Hawk(Accipiter cooperii) |
Description: The "Bird and Butterfly Garden" in the Tijuana River Valley. Near San Ysidro, California. San Diego County. |
Date Taken: 2015:02:01 9:24 |
Location:
Bird and Butterfly Garden |
Camera Information: NIKON D3X, 800 mm, f/11.0, 1/1250 |
File Name: D3X6077-CoopersHawk |
© 2015 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com |


Cooper's Hawk(Accipiter cooperii) |
Description: Where small birds forage, so forages the Cooper’s Hawk. Precisely halfway between Albuquerque and Bosque del Apache is the state reserve at Ladd S. Gordon’s Bernardo Unit, where cranes and geese are now visiting more than at Bosque. |
Date Taken: 2020:12:19 11:26 |
Location:
Bernardo |
Camera Information: NIKON D5, 800 mm, f/8.0, 1/8000 |
File Name: CoopersHawk_D5X9784-Bernardo_Unit |
© 2020 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com |


Cooper's Hawk(Accipiter cooperii) |
Description: This hawk’s pale coloring seemed to help it blend in and avoid being noticed as it kept an eye out for potential meals. My trip to South Padre Island this day started slowly, but picked up nicely before the day finished. The Convention Centre delivered wonderful birds, as it often will. |
Date Taken: 2021:03:16 12:38 |
Location:
Convention Center |
Camera Information: NIKON D5, 800 mm, f/8.0, 1/2000 |
File Name: CoopersHawk_D5X2932-SPI_ConventionCenter |
© 2021 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com |


Cooper's Hawk(Accipiter cooperii) |
Description: Juvenile bird at the Bird and Butterfly Garden, south of Imperial Beach along the Tijuana River. San Diego County. |
Date Taken: 2016:08:28 13:16 |
Location:
Bird and Butterfly Garden |
Camera Information: NIKON D7200, 400 mm, f/8.0, 1/640 |
File Name: D723176-CoopersHawk |
© 2016 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com |


Cooper's Hawk(Accipiter cooperii) |
Description: This young hawk just made an unsuccessful attack on a passerine. My early morning visit to Palmito Hill, southeast of Brownsville, began in a heavy fog. By mid-day the weather improved only slightly to overcast skies. |
Date Taken: 2021:01:26 12:11 |
Location:
Palmito Hill |
Camera Information: NIKON D5, 800 mm, f/11.0, 1/2000 |
File Name: CoopersHawk_D5X5019-PalmitoHill-TX |
© 2021 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com |

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