Cooper's Hawks: "Staking Claim"
How about this location for a nest?
(Cooper’s Hawk - photo by Neil Barker - March 17, 2024)
On the cusp of a new season, a couple prepares a home.
Both share claim to a small corner of Nature for a short time.
Their world narrows in focus: provide for new life to arrive.
I took these photos on March 17, 2024. I heard both of these Cooper’s Hawks before I saw them. Their calling sent the local American Crows into a frenzy.
The mature adult in the top photos appears to be the female. That grey hood and red eyes show this hawk is a full adult and they were slightly larger than the other nearby hawk in the photos below. Typically, female hawks are larger than the males. She remained near a few trees and was not bothered by the crows. I think she was staking out a place for their nest.
The hawk in the four photos above might be the male. He made a clockwise circle of the small woods around where the female remained. The crows chased him a few times and he chased the crows. I followed him and the crows for nearly 20 minutes. He returned to the same place I had first seen both him and the female.
Eventually, the crows gave up and flew off. Perhaps the crows realized these two were not leaving.
The mature adult in the first two photos looks very similar to a Cooper’s Hawk I saw March 10, 2024. This was about 20 yards away from that sighting:
Also, the nesting location is the same area of trees as a pair of Cooper’s Hawks I saw in April 2023. That pair were also building a nest:
In the end, I am simply happy to have encountered this pair of Cooper’s Hawks. I wish them well on building a nest and family this year.
Awesome photos and wonderful information about Cooper’s Hawks. Looking forward to more hawk stories and photos
Such striking photos. So the hawks won that battle with the crows. Thankfully no bird was hurt. An understanding was reached that the hawks would remain to nest.