Frosty Cold Cooper's Hawk

[tamrock]

I just got back from taking the dogs for a short walk on this misty cold day, but it was worth getting out and seeing this beautiful Cooper's Hawk sitting in a tree. No doubt it was looking for it's next ambush on dinner.

 

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[Jim in Idaho]

Great pic, Grant!
Jim

 

[Peyton Manning]

He sure is fluffed up

 

[Inspector]

Great pictures, thanks 4 sharing

 

[tamrock]

Great pic, Grant!
Jim

Thanks Jim. I took a few shot of it and this one came out alright given the lighting conditions being so defused. It was a very cooperative subject also. It never left it's perch either and I left it alone after I was satisfied with the few I took. That way it could get back to concentrating on spotting it's next meal, rather that wondering what I'm all about. This bird is a very deadly predator to other small birds.

 

[Kray Gelder]

Nice!

 

[lairmo]

Nice Pics!!

 

[Hawks88]

Nice pics. Thanks for sharing.

 

[glass half fool]

Two great shots .I love birds of prey . They are great examples of how the food chain works in the wild .

 

[ToddsPoint]

Cooper's hawks were notorious for killing chickens. It was named "chicken hawk" for good reason, and many were eliminated in years past. I've noticed in my lifetime most of the hawk populations have rebounded and we have many more than we used to. Coopers are still rare here, but I've seen them. We have more Sharp-shinned, which are a miniature version of the Coopers. Gary

 

[DizzyDigger]

Gorgeous shots Grant....both of 'em!

That first landscape is worthy of any wall...

We have a resident population of hawks, but we primarily see Bald
Eagles and Osprey's, plus a number of Merganser species. Mergansers
are fish eating ducks that show up in the worst weather, and then
hang around over the water like feathered Grim Reapers, just waiting
for a salmon smolt to get in range.

Tried to polish them just a little (like polishing a diamond..:

 

[tamrock]

There's 3 very common birds of prey seen in my neighborhood. The Red tail Hawks, Kestrels and these Cooper's Hawk. Each of those I see about every day. Every now and then I'll see Great Horned Owls, Burrowing owls, Bald Eagles and one time at our local lake I saw an Osprey dive from the air at a fish and never seen it again.

 

[DizzyDigger]

There's 3 very common birds of prey seen in my neighborhood. The Red tail Hawks, Kestrels and these Cooper's Hawk. Each of those I see about every day. Every now and then I'll see Great Horned Owls, Burrowing owls, Bald Eagles and one time at our local lake I saw an Osprey dive from the air at a fish and never seen it again.

No idea what kind of an owl it is, but we have one that, in the summer,
likes to sit in a tree about 10' from my bedroom window. Fortunately
I'm near deaf, but there are times I've got out of bed, walked over to
the window and told him/her to shut the hell up.

About 15 years ago I drove up to a local small lake to do some trout
fishing. The lake is only about 5 acres in size, and I found a good spot
at one end, tossed out a worm and bobber and sat back to wait for
the fish.

An Osprey showed up circling over the other end of the lake, and within
a few minutes he/she had nailed a nice fat trout. I didn't mind it too much
until I saw it catching it's fourth trout of the morning..and all I had
was bupkis. Not so much as a bump.

I finally changed tactics and brought in a couple, but by that time the
Osprey had already limited out.

 

[smokeythecat]

I believe your hawk is a gentleman. One flew into the side of my car years and years ago. I was going up to the local store and hear a ka-whump in the rear. I stopped and looked in the rear view mirror and saw this mid size hawk sitting on the side of the road and you almost see the stars going around the top of it's little head. It was quite "loopy" from ramming the car.

I turned around and retrieved my youngest daughter who is amazing with animals. We chased it down (it could still run fast) and took it to the emergency wildlife rehab place. They said we must be blessed as Coopers' hawks generally have heart attacks and die when first in contact with people. The hawk looked really ticked off. They found he had bruised his shoulder. So they kept him about a week and released him. Without us bringing him in he would have not been able to fly and would have died. They said he would come back here, and sure enough he did. He was always zooming past the front picture window of the house. We named it "Zoomer". We saw him on and off for over 3 years.

A year later, coming back from church one day we saw a huge Great Horned owl on the side of the road. We drove the last 2 miles to the house, got our owl capturing equipment (fishing net and laundry basket) and captured it. It just sat there. We took it to the same wildlife rehab place, they thought for sure it would die. It didn't. It had a severe concussion, but made it and was released after a couple months.

It apparently ate them out of house and home!

I took a pic of my daughter holding it (she was 18 at the time), and she caught her husband with that photo! They've been married 17 years now.

He is a programming manager for a HUGE software company and she is on the USA Today's Best Selling Author's list. All true. You can't make up this stuff in a dream (or nightmare). Time to go feed the chickens and then do some digging.

 

[tamrock]

Cooper's hawks were notorious for killing chickens. It was named "chicken hawk" for good reason, and many were eliminated in years past. I've noticed in my lifetime most of the hawk populations have rebounded and we have many more than we used to. Coopers are still rare here, but I've seen them. We have more Sharp-shinned, which are a miniature version of the Coopers. Gary

My neighbors have chickens and one time I heard them all in a panic just on the other side of my fence. I looked over the fence and saw down below a Cooper's Hawk had three of them cornered. It looked up at me and flewup and perched itself right next to my face on the fence and we just stared at each other for a second and then it flew away, pissed off no doubt from me foiling his plan. They also go after these ever-increasing Eurasian doves that I first noticed moving in maybe 10 years ago now. According to wildlife experts, these intruding birds got to go and I have no bag limit or seasonal times to take them. I could probably trap them in my backyard and try some of the recipes I've seen online. I believe also the Eurasian dove is a cause in an increase of Red Tails and Cooper's I've been seeing more of in my area as these Eurasian Doves hang around all year long. I don't think we'll ever eradicate them and they're here to stay. Heck they don't go anywhere where you can shoot them as they seem to prefer suburban areas with lots of trees and bird feeders in backyards.

 

[glass half fool]

During the winter months I often see hawks perched in trees along major highways .They have learned to be scavengers by sitting and waiting to feed on road kills . Much easier to catch so long as they avoid the car bumper .As for the term Chicken Hawk it was used for any kind of hawk killing chicken . Before the idea of free range chicken became and advertising catch phrase ,farmers had what they called brooder houses out in the fields on their farms .They would put their young chickens in them and allow them to roam the area feeding on bugs and weed seeds . The house itself was just shelter from rain or overnight .When the chickens reached he age that they where laying eggs they where brought back to the main chicken house where the farmer could gather eggs easier .At the time they where first out there the young chickens where an easy meal for any hawk in the area

 

[narragansett]

Beautiful bird!

 

[Professor of Engineering]

Nice photo!

 

[A2coins]

Amazing did you get that close or is that zoomed Thanks for sharing