Cooper’s Hawks
I usually can tell a Cooper’s hawk from red-tailed hawks from the chest and the tail — the adult Cooper’s has almost a salmony-colored chest and a long striped tail, and the adult red-tailed hawks have that belly band under a white chest and the red tail. The young Cooper’s hawks have dark feathers on the chest, but they go all the way down and the tail is thinner and longer than a young red-tailed hawk’s tail. When it comes to differentiating Cooper’s hawks from sharp-shinned hawks, though, I’m not as good.
Adult Cooper’s hawk, Mount Loretto Unique Area, Staten Island, March 25, 2024. The white band on the tail tip helps differentiate this bird from a sharp-shinned hawk.
On March 25, 2024, we were excited to see this Cooper’s hawk at Mount Loretto Unique Area on Staten Island, posing for us in the trees near Cunningham Pond.
Adult Cooper’s hawk, the Ramble, Central Park, December 5, 2022
Juvenile Cooper’s hawk, the Ramble, Central Park, January 23, 2021
Juvenile Cooper’s hawk, the Ramble, Central Park, March 11, 2021
Juvenile Cooper’s hawk at feeder buffet, Central Park, April 1, 2021
Cooper’s hawk in the Ramble, March 22, 2020. This is the same youngster (see below) seen on March 13.
Cooper’s Hawks in the Ramble
I was able to film Cooper’s hawks in Central Park’s Ramble, usually near the bird feeders, on January 18 (during a snow storm), February 3 and 20, and March 13, 2020.
Cooper’s hawk at the feeders in Central Park, March 13, 2020
Cooper’s hawk in the Ramble, January 18, 2020
These photos were taken February 3 and 16, and March 13, 2020.
A Young Cooper’s Hawk Checks Out the Feeders
We agreed that this young hawk we watched on March 22, 2019, at the feeders in Central Park was a young Cooper’s hawk — from the tail and the yellow eyes, and from listening to better birders than I am!
Young Cooper’s hawk at the feeders in Central Park, March 22, 2019
I took out most of the talking around me when I filmed the Chasing the Hawks in Central Park video, and left in some of the wind sound and bird sounds. Often when a Cooper’s hawk is this close to the feeders, the other birds disappear. But either the little birds forgot he was there, or were too hungry to avoid the area.
All of the photos in the group below were taken March 22, 2019, near the feeders in Central Park.
Hawky New Year! Cooper's Hawks
A Cooper's hawk perched over the Oven, Jan. 18, 2017
Cooper's hawk, Jan. 28, 2017
A Cooper's hawk over the Oven on Jan. 31, 2017. In Part 10 of the Hawky New Year! series.
Two Cooper's Hawks in November
Two Cooper's hawks were hanging out in Central Park in November 2016, one an adult and one a youngster. One has been seen most often in Strawberry Fields, the other most often on the east side of the Ramble. I included them in the Four Days, Six Raptors video, and I include photos below.
A Cooper's Hawk in the North Woods
March 11, 2016. Looking up while walking near the Loch in the North Woods, we spot a Cooper's hawk in a tree. March 23: another walk, another glimpse of the Cooper's hawk, bathing in the water.
Cooper's Hawks, Always a Joy to Chase
This Cooper's hawk was seen in the Ramble on Nov. 16, 2015.
And this Cooper's hawk was photographed on Feb. 10, 2016.
March 11, 2016; May 6, 2013
