Cooper's Hawk

Accipiter cooperii
STANFORD LOCATIONS:

Uncommon migrant and summer resident in wooded areas at the Dish, nesting in natural cavities and old woodpecker holes, usually in oak woodland. Fairly rare during migration, and not known to breed, on main campus. Similar Species: Sharp-shinned Hawk.
 
Nest
Location
Nest
Type
Eggs
Mating System
Dev.
Parental Care
Primary &
2ndary Diet
Foraging
Strategy
F -M
I: 32-36 DAYS
SEMIALTRICIAL 1
CONIFER
 35 feet - 45 feet
(10 feet - 60 feet)
M -F
4-5
(3-6)
MONOG
F: 27-34 DAYS
MF
SMALL
MAMMALS
BREEDING: Usu decid, occ conif, forest, woodland, esp riparian. 1? brood.
DISPLAYS: Courtship flights with wings describing deep arc.
NEST: Broad and flat or narrow and deep, of sticks, twigs, in crotch of conif, by trunk in decid tree; rarely on ground. Lined with chips, outer bark strips, occ green conif needles, down (oft added during and after laying). Occ use old crow nest. Male selects site.
EGGS: Bluish-white/greenish-white, usu nest-stained, spotted with browns. 1.5" (39 mm).
DIET: Also few reptiles, amphibians. Hunts with low dash through woods.
CONSERVATION: Winters s through Mexico to Guatemala and Honduras. Blue List 1972-81, Special Concern 1982, Blue List 1986. Serious decline began reversal in e after 1972 ban of DDT.
NOTES: Juvenile females occ comprise up to 20% of breeding population. Male does most of hunting from incubation to early nestling stage. Young hatch nearly synchronously but size difference apparent; dependent on adults for 30-40 days postfledging.
ESSAYS: Blue List; Raptor Hunting; Hawk-Eyed; DDT; Brood Reduction.
REFERENCES: Henny et al., 1985; Kennedy and Johnson, 1986; Nelson, 1968; Reynolds and Meslow, 1984.

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Except for Stanford Locations, the material in this species treatment is taken, with permission, from The Birder's Handbook (Paul Ehrlich, David Dobkin, & Darryl Wheye, Simon & Schuster, NY. 1988).