Cooper’s Hawk COHA

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Cooper’s Hawk COHA

Every fall and winter we get Cooper’s Hawks in the neighborhood.  The majority of them are first year birds.

First year birds can be identified by the teardrop shaped feathers on the chest.

This bird was sitting right next to the bird feeders and let me get less than 15′ away.

The back of one of my visitors in the pecan tree.

Cooper’s Hawk COHA

Occasionally one visits our water bowl.

I caught the better end of it right after the stretch above.

It is nice when you get a bird to sit on something that you can measure.  This Cooper’s is the longest bird I have recorded at slightly over 17″.

And a profile shot……

Here is a shot of an adult Cooper’s sitting on the roof of my neighbor across the street.  Note the full crop.

I passed about 10′ from this Cooper’s Hawk juvenile in Kearney, AZ.  It was drinking water running along the curb.

There is a sizable difference between the male and female.

The following came from an article from Stanford University:

For most species of birds, the male is larger than the female.  The general exceptions are shore birds and raptors.

The study indicated that the faster the prey of the raptor, the larger the size difference between the sexes.

Cooper’s prey on birds, thus very fast, thus a bigger size difference between male and female.

The female picks smaller males due to safety concerns, thus over time, the size difference gets exaggerated.

 Cooper’s Hawks and Sharp-shinned Hawks look very much the same although Cooper’s are a larger bird.

The biggest female Sharp-shinned is equal in length to the smallest male Cooper’s, but as you can see below, length isn’t everything.

There are other differences too….

Cooper’s left, Sharp-shinned right, both are juveniles and they are not the same size.

Notice the feet (and legs) on the SSHA are notoriously skinny.

  The chest pattern on the SSHA is bolder than the COHA.

  The length of the COHA tail feathers are much more graduated (outer shorter than inner).

This causes the SSHA tail to look square and a COHA more of a circle.

On occasion a Cooper’s can get an infection called bumblefoot.  Caused by an infected lesion it can spread causing possible loss of toes or even life.  I have seen two cases of this in the field.

Sometimes raptors injure their talons.  As long as the root is not affected, it should regrow to its normal size and use.

Juvenile Cooper’s Hawk

Juvenile Cooper’s Hawk

Juvenile Cooper’s Hawk

Cooper’s Hawk Nictitating Membrane

Cooper’s Hawk Nictitating Membrane

Juvenile Cooper’s Hawk

Another visitor

Cooper’s Hawk COHA

Cooper’s Hawk COHA auricular study

Cooper’s Hawk COHA meatus

Cooper’s Hawk COHA sonus auricular

Cooper’s Hawk COHA barb spacing

Cooper’s Hawk COHA barb angle

Cooper’s Hawk COHA plucked auriculars

Microscopy @ 50x 150x 300x proximal sonus auricular.

Distal and medial microscopy.

Cooper’s Hawk COHA

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