Coopers Hawk (accipiter cooperri)

Hawks, Condors, Goshawks

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ostrich
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Re: Coopers Hawk (accipiter cooperri)

Post by ostrich » Sat Dec 01, 2018 2:15 pm

This video has got some interesting footage of a juvenile Coopers hawk bathing.

https://youtu.be/5yNHg8GCwgc

ostrich
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Re: Coopers Hawk (accipiter cooperri)

Post by ostrich » Thu Dec 13, 2018 4:56 pm

Dec 12 - I again had a brief sighting of an adult Coopers today, flying overhead a couple of streets north of the park.

Dec 16 - on my way back from xmas bird count, I had a brief sighting of an adult around 5pm a couple of blocks S of the park flying across the road between some industrial buildings, maybe looking for pigeons.

Dec 25 - around 11am I spotted a Coopers roosting on a light standard beside the road about 50m N of the church (a main block N of the park). It was interesting that a northern (abieticola) RT that has been around for a few weeks now was also roosting on top of the church at the same time.

ostrich
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Re: Coopers Hawk (accipiter cooperri)

Post by ostrich » Fri Dec 21, 2018 7:42 pm


ostrich
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Re: Coopers Hawk (accipiter cooperri)

Post by ostrich » Mon Jan 07, 2019 6:21 pm

This is an article on a possible Coopers hawk-northern goshawk hybrid.

https://adventuresinmothland.wordpress. ... Ouxx8wel6w

ostrich
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Re: Coopers Hawk (accipiter cooperri)

Post by ostrich » Mon Feb 04, 2019 10:14 am

Feb 4 - today at noon I had my first sighting in a while, of an adult Coopers up on top of the church, present for perhaps 10-15min.

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Re: Coopers Hawk (accipiter cooperri)

Post by ostrich » Tue Mar 12, 2019 6:03 pm

Mar 11 - this morning I went out to the park at about 6:15 for the first time to look for activity, at about 6:45 I did have a Coopers glide into the park from the west entrance, and glide around eastward for a bit, before turning and heading towards the daycare yard and trees towards the S edge of the park. I couldn't tell if it stopped at all, when I walked over to look I couldn't see anyone in the trees. So I'm not positive if this was one of the residents or not.

ostrich
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Re: Coopers Hawk (accipiter cooperri)

Post by ostrich » Sun Mar 17, 2019 8:48 pm

Mar 15 - I went out to the park at ~7am to check on activity, and there was already one Coopers sitting on a tree branch in the area at the S edge of the park, and both adults were present (although I could only hear the other's vocalizations from some where off to the right closer to the building). The visible bird had some type of food, so it's possible there was a delivery. After several minutes there were more vocalizations from the other bird, and the visible one flew off to the right to the park edge and out of sight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tm2sgITHI-M

ostrich
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Re: Coopers Hawk (accipiter cooperri)

Post by ostrich » Tue Mar 19, 2019 7:13 pm

Mar 19 - today there was noticeable activity in the park, passing by the park at about 9:30am, I noticed both adults perched together in the area close to the existing nest:

Image

The female appeared to be just roosting while the male was going back and forth a couple of times and trying to break off sticks, so this was the first definite nest building activity I have caught thus far

Image

Image

Going by the park again around noon time, the female was still sitting in the same area, so this is also a sign of increasing presence in the park over just short pre-dawn activity.

At ~6:30pm another check had the female once again roosting around the same area, with the male flying past from the park edge, heading in her direction. He did not appear to stick around, but there were quite a bit of vocalizations.

ostrich
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Re: Coopers Hawk (accipiter cooperri)

Post by ostrich » Thu Mar 21, 2019 5:10 pm

Mar 21 - Both yesterday and today, checking the park when passing by both early in the day (~9:30 am) and late afternoon (around 5:30pm) there was adult presence (female) in the trees in the vicinity of the nest. This is indicating that the female is spending substantial amounts of time in the park area now.

Mar 22 - This morning at ~10am, when walking along the sidewalk just off the W entrance of the park, an adult flew low over the road and into the park going past the nest tree and further on, but upon checking there was no sign of either adult in the trees, so it did not stop to roost on this occasion. This evening the park was empty.

A recent article on urban accipiters.

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/seeing-mo ... agination/

ostrich
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Re: Coopers Hawk (accipiter cooperri)

Post by ostrich » Mon Mar 25, 2019 6:35 pm

Mar 24 - I visited the High Park Coopers territory early in the morning to look for courtship activity, and found the adults vocalizing close to last year's nest tree. There was a brief copulation, followed by the female leaving, although periodically she was continuing to vocalize from different locations close by the same stand of trees. I did see the male break off a couple of sticks and fly them up into last year's nest.

I saw my local female briefly a little later in the morning, and around noon time after going out, I found an adult up on top of the church north of the park.

Image

Image

Mar 25 - my local female was again roosting in the park around the nest area at around 9am.

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Re: Coopers Hawk (accipiter cooperri)

Post by ostrich » Thu Mar 28, 2019 7:55 pm

Mar 27 - I was able to check the park fairly early at around 7:15am, and both adults were roosting near the nest, the male did make two or three trips back and forth to break off small sticks and fly them up to the nest during the time I was watching.

Mar 28 - Around 9am one adult was roosting near the nest, interestingly I spotted another accipiter a few minutes later farther up a block further north from the church, but I don't know whether one of the residents would normally wander up that far.

ostrich
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Re: Coopers Hawk (accipiter cooperri)

Post by ostrich » Sun Apr 07, 2019 5:26 pm

Apr 4 - I went out to the park at about 9:15am, I did not see the female in the typical spots near the nest tree, but then I heard some whaaa vocalizations coming from further back, along the N edge of the park. I found the female roosting fairly low in a branch of the small trees/bushes along the N edge right beside the N walking path exit to the park.

Image

In high resolution it appeared that the female may have eaten recently, as there was some blood on the feet and a bit around the edge of the beak. She continued periodically make whaaa calls which are her typical vocalization when communicating with the male, although he was not anywhere in sight. However she may either have been making calls to request food delivery, or she may have been able to see him somewhere in the distance. However the male did not make an appearance during the period I was there. However the shots of the female also did yield a useful piece of information, the middle toe on the left foot above has somewhat of an unusual/bulbous shape, as if perhaps an old healed fracture or some other injury to the toe. Upon going back and reviewing other shots of the female from last year, this shot from almost exactly a year ago shows the same kind of unusual shape to the middle left toe. This is pretty good confirmation that it is the same resident female in the territory.

June 22 2018:
Image

Footage of the female vocalizing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlYyId7bVzw

ostrich
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Re: Coopers Hawk (accipiter cooperri)

Post by ostrich » Sun Apr 07, 2019 5:31 pm

Apr 6: Going out in the morning around 8am, both adults were in different branches of the nest tree below the nest. I hoped to get close shots of the male especially for identification purposes, but before I could return with my camera the male flew up briefly to the nest, and then flew to one of the usual roosts just away from the nest tree. The female took some interest in a squirrel which was moving around high in the nest tree but did not make any other moves toward it.

Later in the afternoon around 1:15, I found both adults roosting together near the common perch, and after some quick vocalizations from the female the male moved and I was able to observe copulation. As was the case last year the male is markedly smaller than the female, which is often the case with Coopers:

Image

ostrich
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Re: Coopers Hawk (accipiter cooperri)

Post by ostrich » Thu Apr 18, 2019 7:22 pm

Apr 16 - I have not been able to check the nest for the prior week, but on checking the nest area in the morning, both male and female were roosting together close to the nest area. The nest structure appears to have been added to visibly.

Apr 17 - in mid morning, I caught the female briefly on the nest poking around in the rim before flying back off to the trees.

ostrich
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Re: Coopers Hawk (accipiter cooperri)

Post by ostrich » Thu Apr 25, 2019 4:49 pm

Apr 21 - I saw the adult female sitting on the nest for the first time in the morning in incubation position, which is likely at least a sign of impending egg laying, but might or might not be a definite indicator of actual laying.

Apr 23 - I did not see the female on the nest either of the times I checked, on one occasion she was roosting in one of the usual spots nearby the nest tree.

Apr 24 - In the morning, I saw the female just flying from off the nest from the west direction up into the nest. She appeared to be rummaging around in the bowl during the time I observed. Later in the day she did again appear to be in an incubation position.

Apr 25 - in the morning about 8:30am the adult female was on the nest, standing upright at the edge of the bowl, but did not seem to be overtly sitting. Shortly thereafter she flew off the nest low over the houses immediately N of the tree, and she was vocalizing, it could have been some delivery or arrival by the male. This evening around 5pm she was again in the nest in the same upright position, but not in overt incubation position.

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