title: Shyam Benegal

text: Following the success of these four films, Benegal was backed by star Shashi Kapoor, for whom he made "Junoon" (1978) and "Kalyug" (1981). The former was an interracial love story set amidst the turbulent period of the Indian Rebellion of 1857, while the latter was based on the "Mahabharata" and was not a big hit, although both won Filmfare Best Movie Awards in 1980 and 1982, respectively.


title: Shyam Benegal

text: Benegal's next film "Mandi" (1983), was a satirical comedy about politics and prostitution, starring Shabana Azmi and Smita Patil. Later, working from his own story, based on the last days of Portuguese in Goa, in the early 1960s, Shyam explored human relationships in "Trikal" (1985).


title: Shyam Benegal

text: Soon, Shyam Benegal stepped beyond traditional narrative films and took to biographical material to achieve greater freedom of expression. His first venture in this genre was with a documentary film based on Satyajit Ray's life, "Satyajit Ray", in 1985. This was followed by works such as "Sardari Begum" (1996) and "Zubeidaa", which was written by filmmaker and critic Khalid Mohamed.


title: Shyam Benegal

text: The 1990s saw Shyam Benegal making a trilogy on Indian Muslim women, starting with "Mammo" (1994), "Sardari Begum" (1996) and "Zubeidaa" (2001). With "Zubeidaa", he entered mainstream Bollywood, as it starred top Bollywood star Karishma Kapoor and boasted music by A. R. Rahman.


title: Shyam Benegal

text: In 1992, he made "Suraj Ka Satvan Ghoda" ("Seventh Horse of the Sun"), based on a novel by Dharmavir Bharati, which won the 1993 National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi. In 1996 he made another film based on the book "The Making of the Mahatma", based on Fatima Meer's, "The Apprenticeship of a Mahatma". This turn to biographical material resulted in "", his 2005 English language film. He criticised the Indian caste system in "Samar" (1999), which went on to win the National Film Award for Best Feature Film.


title: Shyam Benegal

text: Benegal is the current president of the Federation of Film Societies of India. He owns a production company called Sahyadri Films.


title: Shyam Benegal

text: He has authored three books based on his own films: "The Churning" with Vijay Tendulkar (1984), based on "Manthan"; "Satyajit Ray" (1988), based on his biographical film, "Satyajit Ray"; and "The Marketplace" (1989), which was based on "Mandi".


title: Shyam Benegal

text: In 2008, his film "Welcome to Sajjanpur", starring Shreyas Talpade and Amrita Rao, was released to a good response. Its music was composed by Shantanu Moitra, and it was produced by Chetan Motiwalla. Shyam Benegal is slated to direct an epic musical, "Chamki Chameli", inspired by Georges Bizet's classic Spanish opera "Carmen". The story revolves around the eponymous Chamki, a beautiful gypsy girl with a fiery temper and is written by Shama Zaidi. The music is by A. R. Rahman and lyrics are by Javed Akhtar.


title: Shyam Benegal

text: One of Benegal's future projects is a film based on the life of Noor Inayat Khan, daughter of Inayat Khan and descendant of Tipu Sultan, who served as a British spy during World War II.


title: Shyam Benegal

text: Benegal made a comeback on the small screen with "Samvidhaan", a 10-part mini-series revolving around the making of the Indian Constitution, to be aired on Rajya Sabha TV from 2 March 2014. Along with Benegal, Tom Alter, Dalip Tahil, Sachin Khedekar, Divya Dutta, Rajendra Gupta, K K Raina, and Ila Arun were seen at the press conference for the TV series.


title: Shyam Benegal

text: Government of Bangladesh has confirmed Benegal would direct the biopic of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman named "". The film will be released presumably by 2022.


title: Shyam Benegal

text: Shyam Benegal is married to Nira Benegal and has a daughter named Pia Benegal, a costume designer, who worked for many films.


title: Chris Zylka

text: Chris Zylka (born Christopher Michael Settlemire; born May 9, 1985) is an American actor and model, known for his roles in the films "Shark Night" (2011), "The Amazing Spider-Man" (2012), Doyce Plunk in the TV series "Zeke and Luther" (2009–2011), and Tom Garvey in the HBO series "The Leftovers" (2014–2017).


title: Chris Zylka

text: Zylka was born and raised in Howland Township, Ohio, U.S. He took his mother's maiden name, Zylka, as a stage name. Zylka was raised by his mother and he has never met his biological father.


title: Chris Zylka

text: He graduated from Howland High School in 2003. Zylka studied art at the University of Toledo for two years, but dropped out to care for his maternal grandfather when he suddenly became ill. His grandfather is from Ukraine.


title: Chris Zylka

text: At the age of 19, he relocated to Los Angeles to pursue a career in acting. He was homeless for six months upon arriving to Los Angeles and lived in his car in the parking lot of a 7-Eleven in Burbank. Zylka described this time in his life by saying: "For about six months I lived in a ‘94 Ford Probe behind a 7-11 parking lot. I wound up leaving it in the lot because it wouldn't start anymore, and it just kind of became my home. I think that's where my naivety helped or I was just being stupid! I had this adolescent mind telling me everything was going to be okay, and it was. I’ve been very fortunate." Zylka began working at restaurants, where he was discovered by manager and acting coach Jon Simmons.


title: Chris Zylka

text: Zylka began his acting career with a guest appearance as Jason on the teen drama television series "90210" in 2008. He was cast in a recurring role in "Everybody Hates Chris" and had guest roles in television shows "Hannah Montana", "Cougar Town" and "Zeke and Luther". In 2009, Zylka landed a sixteen-episode recurring role as Joey Donner in sitcom "10 Things I Hate About You". Zylka began to move into films around this time, appearing in the comedy film "The People I've Slept With" (2009) and the horror television film "My Super Psycho Sweet 16" (2009). Zylka would later reprise this role in the sequel, "" (2010). He portrayed Thor in the mystery comedy film "Kaboom" (2010), which premiered at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival.


title: Chris Zylka

text: Zylka starred in two animal-attack-themed films, "Shark Night" (2011) and "Piranha 3DD" (2012). Zylka portrayed Flash Thompson in the superhero film "The Amazing Spider-Man" (2012). He played the role of Jake Armstrong in The CW's supernatural drama television series "The Secret Circle". He had a leading role as Kermit in the crime drama film "Dixieland" (2015). The film centers around good-hearted Kermit, who just got out of prison and returns home to Mississippi.


title: Chris Zylka

text: He played Tom Garvey in HBO's supernatural television series "The Leftovers" from 2014 to 2017. He portrayed Alex Lachan in Lifetime's television film "I Killed My BFF" (2015). The film is inspired by a true story, the murder of Anne Marie Camp by Jamie Dennis and her husband, Michael Gianakos, in Minnesota in 1997. He played Chuck Harris in the drama film "Novitiate" (2017). The film received generally positive reviews from critics and fans. In 2018, he directed Paris Hilton's music video for the song "I Need You". He portrayed Will Jefford Jr. in the drama film "The Death & Life of John F. Donovan" (2018), released in September 2018. In April 2019, Zylka was cast in a recurring role in USA Network's teen drama television series "Dare Me". The series follows the lives of competitive high school cheerleaders in a small Midwestern town. In April 2020, USA Network canceled the series after one season. On May 29, 2019, talent agency ICM Partners announced that they have signed Zylka. Zylka portrayed Adult Ray in the short film "Sorry or What Could Have Been" (2020) opposite Paris Hilton.


title: Chris Zylka

text: Early in his career, Zylka appeared in an advertising campaign for Abercrombie & Fitch, shot by photographer Bruce Weber. He has appeared on the cover of several magazines, including "Wonderland", "Glamoholic" and "Bello".


title: Chris Zylka

text: He enjoys painting and is also an artist. Zylka started artmaking when he was nine years old. He described his art often coming from "a darker place”. He launched his first art exhibition titled "Why Use A Name" at Pikes Hotel in Ibiza, Spain in August 2018.


title: Chris Zylka

text: Zylka dated actress Lucy Hale for nine months, and the couple split in September 2012. He was engaged to model Hanna Beth Merjos in April 2014. The couple called off the engagement and broke up in early 2015. Zylka became engaged to heiress and media personality Paris Hilton in January 2018. He proposed to her with a ring worth US$2 million during a vacation in Aspen, after one year of dating. The couple called off the engagement in November 2018.


title: Chris Zylka

text: He has several tattoos, including a tattoo that says "Mom" in a heart, "an angel gone bad" and a gorilla.


title: Terry Hall (singer)

text: Terence Edward Hall (19 March 1959 – 18 December 2022) was an English musician and the lead singer of the Specials, and formerly of Fun Boy Three, the Colourfield, Terry, Blair & Anouchka and Vegas.


title: Terry Hall (singer)

text: He released two solo studio albums and also collaborated with many artists including David Stewart, Bananarama, the Lightning Seeds, Sinéad O'Connor, Stephen Duffy, Dub Pistols, Gorillaz, Damon Albarn, D12, Tricky, Lily Allen and Shakespears Sister.


title: Terry Hall (singer)

text: Born and raised in Coventry, England, Hall was abducted by a paedophile ring on a trip to France at the age of 12. He left school before his 15th birthday, taking various short-term jobs – bricklayer, quantity surveyor, and apprentice hairdresser among them. He became an active member of the burgeoning Coventry music scene of the late 1970s, playing in a local punk band called Squad and being credited as a composer on their "Red Alert" single.


title: Terry Hall (singer)

text: Initially the frontman of 'the Coventry Automatics' in 1977–78, which became the Specials in early 1979, Hall first came to prominence in the UK in 1979 when BBC Radio 1 disc jockey (DJ) John Peel played their debut single "Gangsters" on his show. The band then went on to release their debut studio album, "The Specials", which also contained the hits "A Message to You Rudy" and "Too Much Too Young". In October 1980 the group released their second studio album, "More Specials", which contained three more hit singles: "Do Nothing", "Stereotype" and "Rat Race".


title: Terry Hall (singer)

text: The single "Ghost Town", released in June 1981, spent three weeks at number one and ten weeks in the top 40 of the UK Singles Chart. The double A-side song, "Friday Night Saturday Morning", penned by Hall, described a night out at the Coventry Locarno.


title: Terry Hall (singer)

text: After the Specials' single "Ghost Town" was released, Hall left the band to start a new group called Fun Boy Three with two of his Specials bandmates, Lynval Golding and Neville Staple. Fun Boy Three's first hit single, "The Lunatics (Have Taken Over the Asylum)," was released in 1981 and was followed-up in 1982 with "It Ain't What You Do (It's the Way That You Do It)," a duet with Bananarama. Fun Boy Three then provided guest vocals for Bananarama's single, "Really Saying Something." In the same year, Hall and his bandmates appeared in the music video for "Driving in My Car" by Madness and released their debut studio album, "Fun Boy Three", which reached No. 7 in the UK Albums Chart. In February 1983, Fun Boy Three released their second studio album, "Waiting", which contained two Top Ten hits: "The Tunnel of Love" and "Our Lips Are Sealed". The latter was a song Hall had written with Jane Wiedlin, who had already had success in the US with a version of the song by her group the Go-Go's.


title: Terry Hall (singer)

text: In 1984, Hall formed the Colourfield, releasing the studio album "Virgins and Philistines" in 1985, which included the hit single "Thinking of You". The album spent seven weeks in the UK chart, peaking at No. 12. This new musical direction would culminate in collaborations with Ian Broudie and Hall contributing a number of songs to Broudie's albums as the Lightning Seeds. Hall also co-wrote the song "Smoke Ring" for Broudie's debut solo studio album "Tales Told", which was also released as the lead track on the "Smoke Rings" EP. A second Colourfield studio album, "Deception", was released in 1987, reaching No. 95 in the UK Albums Chart.


title: Terry Hall (singer)

text: In 1989, Hall teamed up with American actress Blair Booth and jeweller Anouchka Grose and began recording under the moniker of Terry, Blair & Anouchka. After two singles which both scraped into the Top 80 of the UK Singles Chart, the trio released their debut studio album "Ultra Modern Nursery Rhymes", which failed to chart.


title: Terry Hall (singer)

text: In 1992, Hall joined forces with Dave Stewart, most famous for his role as one half of Eurythmics. The duo took on the name Vegas and released "Vegas", a slick electronic pop album that was heavily promoted by their label BMG. It failed to chart. Only one of the three singles lifted from the album, "Possessed", managed to break the UK Top 40, reaching No. 32.


title: Terry Hall (singer)

text: Hall began his formal solo career in 1994 with "Home". The album was produced by his former collaborator Ian Broudie (of The Lightning Seeds) and it reached no. 95 in the UK Albums Chart. The album also features ex Echo & the Bunnymen bassist, Les Pattinson. The highlight of the album was the single "Sense", which reached No. 54 on the UK Singles Chart. The following year, Hall released the "Rainbows" EP in collaboration with Damon Albarn of Blur and it climbed to no. 62 in the UK Singles Chart.


title: Terry Hall (singer)

text: In 1997, Hall followed up his debut studio album with "Laugh". It remains his most successful solo album, reaching No. 50 in the UK Albums Chart. The album contains the Top 50 UK single, "Ballad of a Landlord". Both albums featured long-time collaborator Craig Gannon.


title: Terry Hall (singer)

text: In 2003, Hall collaborated with Mushtaq of Fun-Da-Mental on the studio album "The Hour of Two Lights" which contains contributions from Blur's Damon Albarn, a twelve-year-old Lebanese girl singer, a blind Algerian rapper, a Syrian flautist, Hebrew vocalists, and a group of Polish gypsies.


title: Terry Hall (singer)

text: In 2001, Hall appeared as a guest on the Gorillaz and D12 collaboration single "911", which was a song about terrorist attacks in the US. Hall sings the chorus along with Gorillaz frontman Damon Albarn, while D12 rap their verses. In 2003, Hall guested on the song "Never Alone", which appeared on the Junkie XL studio album "".


title: Terry Hall (singer)

text: Hall was featured on the studio album "True Love" by Toots and the Maytals, which won the Grammy Award in 2004 for Best Reggae Album, and showcased many notable musicians.


title: Terry Hall (singer)

text: In 2007, Hall provided vocals for many tracks on the Dub Pistols' studio album "Speakers and Tweeters", having previously appeared on the band's song "Problem Is" from the studio album "Six Million Ways to Live" and also appeared live at the Glastonbury Festival on the Pyramid Stage with Lily Allen and his former Specials bandmate Lynval Golding. He also played on the Park Stage, once again with Golding and also Damon Albarn and beatboxer Shlomo, playing a version of the Specials' "A Message to You Rudy". Later that year, he appeared at GuilFest on the BBC Radio 2 Stage, once again with the Dub Pistols and Golding.


title: Terry Hall (singer)

text: Hall contacted his former Specials bandmates with the prospect of a reunion. On 30 March 2008, Hall stated that the Specials would be reforming for tour dates and possibly some recording. On 6 September 2008, six members of the band performed on the Main Stage at Bestival as the surprise act. The Specials' original keyboardist and primary composer Jerry Dammers did not play at the festival and owns the trademark rights to the name "the Specials," so the group was billed as "Very 'Special' Guests". On 2 December 2008, the Specials announced 2009 tour dates to celebrate their 30th anniversary. Dammers did not join the band on the tour, although relations between the two parties were reportedly strong. Hall was quoted as saying "the door remains open to him". Hall was still performing with the Specials in 2018, including a concert with the Rolling Stones, along with his original band members Lynval Golding, and Horace Panter, and often DJed in various UK venues.


title: Terry Hall (singer)

text: On 1 February 2019, the Specials released a new studio album entitled "Encore". Upon release it went straight to the number one spot on the UK Albums Chart, becoming the highest-charting album ever released by the Specials.


title: Terry Hall (singer)

text: In 1980, Hall had a brief romantic relationship with Jane Wiedlin of the band the Go-Gos. Together, they wrote the song "Our Lips Are Sealed". Hall had two sons with his first wife, Jeanette Hall, and another son with his second wife, Lindy Heymann.


title: Cooper's hawk

text: Cooper's hawk (Accipiter cooperii) is a medium-sized hawk native to the North American continent and found from southern Canada to Mexico. This species is a member of the genus "Accipiter", sometimes referred to as true hawks, which are famously agile, relatively small hawks common to wooded habitats around the world and also the most diverse of all diurnal raptor genera. As in many birds of prey, the male is smaller than the female. The birds found east of the Mississippi River tend to be larger on average than the birds found to the west. It is easily confused with the smaller but similar Sharp-shinned hawk.


title: Cooper's hawk

text: The species was named in 1828 by Charles Lucien Bonaparte in honor of his friend and fellow ornithologist, William Cooper. Other common names for the Cooper's hawk include: big blue darter, chicken hawk, flying cross, hen hawk, quail hawk, striker, and swift hawk. Many of the names applied to the Cooper's hawks refer to their ability to hunt large and evasive prey using extremely well-developed agility. This species primarily hunts small-to-medium-sized birds, but will also commonly take small mammals and sometimes reptiles.


title: Cooper's hawk

text: Like most related hawks, Cooper's hawks prefer to nest in tall trees with extensive canopy cover and can commonly produce up to two to four fledglings depending on conditions. Breeding attempts may be compromised by poor weather, predators and anthropogenic causes, in particular the use of industrial pesticides and other chemical pollution in the 20th century. Despite declines due to manmade causes, the bird remains a stable species.


title: Cooper's hawk

text: Cooper's hawk was formally described by the French naturalist Charles Lucien Bonaparte in 1828 from a specimen collected near Bordentown, New Jersey. He coined the binomial name "Falco cooperii". The specific epithet and the common name were chosen to honour the naturalist William Cooper, one of the founders of the New York Lyceum of Natural History (later the New York Academy of Sciences) in New York City. Other common names have been known to include the big blue darter, chicken hawk, hen hawk, Mexican hawk, quail hawk, striker and swift hawk. The Cooper's hawk is a member of the genus "Accipiter", sometimes referred to as "true hawks" (and the members of which are at times commonly referred to as goshawks or sparrowhawks). This genus is the most diverse of all in the species-rich family Accipitridae, with nearly 50 recognized species, and is also the most diverse of all diurnal raptor genera. The genus "Accipiter" appeared to diversify in the last few million years due to an increase in accessible avian prey. They appear to be a sister genera to "Circus" or harriers, albeit a distantly related one. Other smaller genera including "Harpagus" and "Erythrotriorchis" also appear to bear some relation. Genetic studies of three Asian "Accipiter" species showed that they may not be a monophyletic group, with various clades divisions outside traditional subfamily lines, with even the sharp-shinned hawk-like and aptly named tiny hawk ("Accipiter supercilious") appearing to cluster outside of the genus nearer very dissimilar genera like "Buteo" and "Milvus". It appears that the Cooper's hawk was the earliest "Accipiter" to colonize North America with a well-defined fossil record dating back perhaps 0.5-1 million years. Fossil evidence shows then that the goshawk came second and, despite the considerably wider range of the sharp-shinned hawk compared to the other two species, the ancestors of the sharp-shinned hawk came over the Bering Land Bridge last. Genetic testing has indicated that the Cooper's hawk is quite closely related to the northern goshawk, with the similar superficial characteristics to the Cooper's of the sharp-shinned hawk, a close relative of the Old World sparrowhawk, apparently obtained through convergent evolution. A natural hybrid of a Cooper's hawk and a northern goshawk with intermediate physical characteristics was verified via genetic testing of a migrant juvenile in Cape May and was thought to indicate a northward expansion of the Cooper's range into historic goshawk haunts.


title: Cooper's hawk

text: No subspecies are recognized of the Cooper's hawk. A previously described subspecies, "A. c. mexicanus", was discounted due to being weakly differentiated. However, evidence based on genetic markers shows that westerly birds such those in British Columbia populations are genetically differentiated from those in the Upper Midwest, indicating that the Cooper's hawk were restricted to at least two Pleistocene glacial refugia with the Rocky mountains acting as a natural barrier to gene flow between hawks on either side while breeding. Several of the other similar largish "Accipiter" species in the Americas appear to be closely related, possibly within a species complex, to the Cooper's hawk, namely the bicolored hawk, widespread through Central and South America, and the Chilean hawk ("Accipiter chilensis"). While there is some degree of obvious differentiation from these species in appearance, distribution and behavior, more nebulous is the Cooper's hawk relationship to the very similar Gundlach's hawk of Cuba. In general the relationship of the Cooper's and Gundlach's hawk is muddled and genetic testing indicated that it is possible (but not certain) that the Gundlach's may be insufficiently distinct to qualify as a separate species. It is almost certain that the Cooper's hawk would at least qualify as the paraspecies for the Gundlach's and data has indicated fairly recent colonization and hybridization between the two hawks.


title: Cooper's hawk

text: Cooper's hawk is a medium-sized hawk and relatively large for an "Accipiter". Compared to related species, they tend to have moderate-length wings, a long, often graduated or even wedge-shaped tail and long though moderately thick legs and toes. Their eyes tend to be set well forward in the sides of the relatively large and squarish-looking head (though the head can look somewhat rounded if the feathers on the nape are held flush) and a relatively short but robust bill. They have hooked bills that are well-adapted for tearing the flesh of prey, as is typical of raptorial birds. Generally, Cooper's hawks can be considered secretive, often perching within the canopy, but can use more open perches, especially in the western part of the range or in winter when they may use leafless or isolated trees, utility poles or exposed stumps. On perched hawks, the wing-tips tend to appear to cover less than one third of the tail, sometimes seeming to barely cover the covert feathers. As adults, they may be a solid blue-gray or brown-gray color above. Adults usually have a well-defined crown of blackish-brown feathers above a paler nape and hindneck offset against their streaked rufous cheeks. Their tail is blue-gray on top and pale underneath, barred with three black bands in a rather even pattern and ending in a rather conspicuous white tip. The adult's underside shows a bit of whitish base color overlaid heavily with coarse, irregular rufous to cinnamon bands, though these narrow into marginal shaft streaks around the throat. Against the rich color on the rest of the underside, the pure white on adults is conspicuous. Adult females may average slightly more brownish or grayish above, while some adult males can range rarely into almost a powder blue color. Although little regional variation is known in the plumage, adult coloring in the Pacific Northwest averages slightly darker overall. Aberrant pale plumage was recorded in at least four total birds of both sexes, all of which were almost completely white and lacked any underside streaking. These birds had faded back color and lacking strong barring on the tail. An aberrant dark female was also recorded. As a juvenile, she had a blackish-brown (rather than mid-brown) back and dark inky feathers below with grayish ground color barely showing. Later she produced an aberrant male with similar characteristics that successfully fledged. The latter two were possible cases of melanism and such dark variations are virtually unprecedented in any "Accipiter" species.


title: Cooper's hawk

text: Juveniles of the species are generally dark brown above, though the feathers are not infrequently edged with rufous to cinnamon and have a variable whitish mottling about the back, wing coverts and, mainly, the scapulars. Juvenile Cooper's tend to have streaking or washing of tawny on the cheeks, ending in a light nuchal strip, giving them a hooded appearance unlike the capped appearance of adults (some juveniles, unlike adults, may manifest a slim supercilium as well). The crown is brown on juveniles rather than blackish as in adults. The tail is similar to that of the adult but more brownish and sometimes shows an additional fourth band. The juvenile has more pale white to cream base color showing than older birds, with variable dusky throat striping and mid-brown streaks, which appear as sharply defined from about the lower throat to the lower breast. The juvenile may have brown to black spots or bars on the thighs with thin black streaks mostly ending at the belly and conspicuous white crissum and undertail coverts. Juveniles can tend to appear more "disheveled" and less compact than adults in feather composition. In flight, though usually considered medium-sized, Cooper's hawks can appear fairly small. This effect is emphasized by the short wings relative to the elongated tail (unlike unrelated hawks, the wingspan is usually less than twice as broad as the total length). The species tends to have rounded wings, a long rounded tail and long legs, much like other "Accipiters". Cooper's hawks have a strong flight with stiff beats and short glides, tending to do so on quite level wings with wrist thrust forward yet the head consistently projects. The 5 outer functional primaries are notched on their inner webs, the outermost is the longest, the next outermost nearly as long. When soaring, these hawks do so on flattish or, more commonly, slightly raised wings, with fairly straight leading edges. Against the barred underbody on adults, the wings are more or less flecked in similar color, with pale greyish flight feathers and a broadly white-tipped tail correspondingly barred with dark gray. Meanwhile, the upperside of adults is essentially all blue-grey. Juvenile are mostly dark above though manifest a hooded effect on the head and a rufous-buff edges and especially whitish mottling, the latter can be fairly apparent. Juveniles are mainly whitish below with neatly dark streaks about the wing linings, breast, flanks and thighs, with bars on the axillaries and flight feathers. The tail of the juvenile has a broadly white tip and bars like adults but the ground color is a paler shade of gray.


title: Cooper's hawk

text: Adults have eyes ranging from light orange to red, with males averaging darker in eye color, while those of juveniles are yellow. Among 370 breeding hawks from different parts of the range, 1-year-old males usually had light orange eyes and 1-year-old females usually yellow eyes. Meanwhile, males of 2 or more years old always had consistently darker eyes than the eyes of females of the same relative age, with most males of the age having largely either orange (40.4%) or dark orange (32.3%) eyes, while female eyes at this stage were light orange or lighter. From the second year, the eyes of Cooper's hawks may grow darker still but stop darkening shortly thereafter. 3-year or older males were found to have predominantly dark orange (37.3% vs 21.6% of similar age females), red (34.6% vs 3.3% of similar age females) or mid-orange (26.6% vs 55% of similar age females). For unclear reasons, far more adults in British Columbia and North Dakota (83% of males, 63% of females) had dark orange or red eyes (which also manifested at an earlier age in British Columbia) than mature hawks in Wisconsin (49% of males, 14% of females). Most females over 2 years old in Wisconsin were found to have light orange eyes. The purpose of bright eye color in the hawks may be correlated to feeding stimulation of nestling hawks (i.e. darker orange or red objects may be more perceptible and tend to be pecked at more so than duller colors). The eyes of this hawk, as in most predatory birds, face forward, enabling good depth perception for hunting and catching prey while flying at top speeds. Adults have greenish yellow ceres and have legs of orangish to yellow while these parts on juveniles are a paler hue, yellow-green to yellow. The prebasic molt begins in late April–May and takes about 4 months. The female usually begins to molt about 7–10 days sooner than the male. Molts occur inward towards the body on the wing feathers. Tail molt may generally start with the middle tail feathers, proceeding posteriorly to the upper tail coverts, also starting with the median feathers on the scapulars. Up to 36% of juvenile feathers may be retained in the second pre-basic molt. Arrested molt has been recorded in the late nesting period, often pausing after the third primary is molted. Molts tend to be halted especially when food supplies are down during the brooding stage, and may be resumed after the stress of feeding the brooding diminishes.


title: Cooper's hawk

text: Cooper's hawks are fairly variable in size. There is usually minimal to no overlap in dimensions between the sexes, with females being considerably larger than males. On average, she may be about 20% larger linearly and around 40% heavier (though can be up to 125% more massive). More westerly Cooper's hawks (roughly west of the Rocky mountains) show slightly less pronounced sexual dimorphism than hawks of the species elsewhere. Sexual dimorphism in Cooper's hawks is most reliably measured by wing size, talon size, then body mass. Although there is some margin of error, within a given region dimensions of the two sexes never overlap in these regards (but may overlap marginally in tarsal and tail lengths). In general terms, "Accipiter" species are among the most sexually dimorphic in size of all raptorial birds. Sexual dimorphism in "Accipiters" may be due to greater male efficiency through smaller size and resulting agility in food gathering for the family group. Meanwhile, the female may be better suited to the rigors of brooding (including perhaps most nest defense) due to her larger size, also allowing the sexes to compete less on the same food sources. Geographic variation in body size has also been found, with more easterly hawks tending to be rather larger on average than those found in western North America. On the contrary, in the American southwest, the species may reportedly reach its largest sizes but there is little evidence that these birds average distinctly larger than the large bodied individuals measured in the more northeasterly parts of the species’ range in North America, from eastern North Dakota to New Jersey. The size variation evidenced in Cooper's hawks is apparently the most pronounced of any of the three North American species of "Accipiter". However, Cooper's hawks are one of an estimated 25% of studied bird species that do not appear to correspond to Bergmann's rule (i.e. being larger where living farther north) instead varying in size much more so by longitude. Furthermore, juveniles can differ somewhat in size, tending to be slightly lighter and smaller than older birds, but not infrequently averaging longer in tail and especially wing length. Total length of full-grown birds can vary from in males and in females. Wingspan may range from , with an average of around .


title: Cooper's hawk

text: Body mass, along with standard measurements, is much more frequently measured than total length or wingspan in different populations. Museum specimens from the western United States averaged in 48 males and in 20 females, while those sourced from the eastern United States averaged in 16 males and in 31 females. Average weight of 104 male migrating hawks in Cedar Grove, Wisconsin was (with adults averaging 4% heavier than juveniles), whilst the average of 115 females migrants was (with adult averaging about 5.5% heavier than juveniles). A different sample of Wisconsin Cooper's hawks reportedly averaged in males (sample size 60) and in females (sample size 57). At Cape May Point, New Jersey, weights were similar as in Wisconsin (although only hatching-year juveniles were apparently weighed), with averages of in two samples of males and in the two samples for females. Migrant hawks in the Goshute Mountains of Nevada were significantly lighter than the eastern ones at in 183 first year males and in 177 older males and in 310 first year females and in 416 older females. Weights were similar to the Goshutes in the Marin Headlands, California where 50 males (all first-years) averaged and 117 first-year females averaged . Averaged between early and late summer, the average mass of males in Oregon was and that of females was reported at . The average weights of Cooper's hawks from Oregon was about 19.4% lower in males and 14.5% lower in females than those from Wisconsin but the Oregon hawks evidenced less seasonal variation in weight. In British Columbia, males averaged and females averaged while in western and eastern North Dakota, males averaged and females averaged . In northern Florida, males averaged and females averaged . In general, males may weigh anywhere from and females anywhere from , the lightest hawks generally being juveniles recorded from the Goshutes of Nevada, the heaviest known being adults from Wisconsin.


title: Cooper's hawk

text: Among standard measurements, the wing chord may vary from in males and from in females. Wing chord is generally commensurate with body mass, averaging largest in the heavier hawks of eastern North Dakota, where males averaged and females , and in Wisconsin, where males averaged and females (those from Cape May also being similar to those two samples). However, smaller, more westerly hawks such as those in the Goshute mountains, where males measured at a mean of and females at a mean of , and in British Columbia, with a male mean of and female mean of , were proportionately longer winged relative to their other body proportions. The tail of males may vary from and that of females at , consistently over in females and averaging under in males. In tarsus length, males may vary from , with an average of in museum specimens, and females from , with an average of in museum specimens. The culmen may measure from in males, averaging about , and from in females, averaging about . The hallux claw, the enlarged rear talon featured on nearly all accipitrids, may measure from in males, averaging about , and from in females, averaging about . The footpad of Cooper's hawks may measure in males , averaging in 42, and in females , averaging in 23. For unclear reasons, the smaller-bodied hawks found in British Columbia were found to be proportionately larger footed, median toe length between sexes of , than the larger bodied ones in Wisconsin.


title: Cooper's hawk

text: Some authors have claimed that during breeding Cooper's hawks may utter well over 40 call variations, which would rank them as having among the most varied collection of calls recorded for any raptor. However, many such variations are probably quite subtle (marginal differences in harshness, clarity, tempo and volume) and other authors have diagnosed only four overall call types. The typical call of a Cooper's hawk is a harsh, cackling yelp. This call may be translated as "keh-keh-keh"..., males tending to have a higher pitched, less raspy and faster-paced voice than females. However, some variants uttered by males were surprisingly actually deeper than the female's version of said calls. A still more modulated and raucous version is given during the dawn chorus. Some studies have indicated that pairs nesting in more deeply wooded areas may vocalize more frequently due to inferior sight lines. However, hawks nesting in urban areas of Arizona do not seem to vocalize less than their rural nesting counterparts. There is perhaps some evidence that individual hawk's voices may become lower pitched with age. When coming with food to the nest or while displaying during courtship, the male may let out a nighthawk-like "kik", apparently this call is more prevalent in pairs using thicker woods. Infrequently, females may utter the "kik" call as well, apparently when looking for her mate or gathering nesting materials. Many soft calls have been recorded in intimate or "conversational" interactions, exclusively between breeding pairs and between mothers and their broods. The initial call of the young is a "cheep" or "chirrp", which by the time they are fledgling young alters to a penetrating hunger call, "eeeeeeee-oo" or "tseeeee-ar" (among different transliterations). The higher pitched calls of the young may even extend to females nesting within their first year while still in immature plumage. Females have what is often thought of as their own hunger cry, "whaaaa", heard especially in poorer food areas, when the male appears. Nonetheless, the females "whaaaa" call has also been uttered in different contexts, such as during nest building and during a "postural bowing" display, and some authors inferred that it may be a means of communicating to the male that it is not dangerous for him to approach her (as female "Accipiters" can be dangerous to the much smaller males). Generally, Cooper's hawks are silent outside the breeding season. Rarely, though, some males that appear to be isolated from any other hawks of their species have been known to call during winter.


title: Cooper's hawk

text: "Accipiter" species in North America are arguably the most vexing raptor to identify in the continent. The other two species in North America are the smaller sharp-shinned hawk ("Accipiter striatus") and the larger northern goshawk ("Accipiter gentilis"). Compared to the other two "Accipiters", Cooper's have an intermediate amount of feathering at top of the tarsus, as well as intermediate relative middle toe length and eye proportions, but have relatively the longest tail and the shortest wings of the three. The Cooper's and sharp-shinned hawk are very similar (sometimes considered almost identical) in plumage characteristics at all stages of development. Most Cooper's hawks are considerably larger than most sharp-shinned hawks. Generally, the Cooper's species is crow-sized, with the males about the size of a small crow and the females the size of a large crow, while most sharp-shinned hawks are about the size of a large jay. Also in the hand, Cooper's hawks and sharp-shinned hawks may be fairly reliably distinguished by their sizes, with the smallest male Cooper's always being heavier and larger clawed than the largest female sharp-shinned hawk (with a 97–98% difference in dimensions of the wing and tail). However, in the field, especially when hawks must be identified in at a distance or at unfavorable angles (such as when migrating) or at a brief glance (such as when hunting), even experienced birdwatchers may not always be able to certainly distinguish the two species, especially female sharp-shins against the nearly similarly sized male Cooper's. The sharp-shinned hawk usually evidences a slimmer, slighter look, with more dainty features, and has relatively longer wings and a shorter and more squared tail with a much thinner white tip. Other slight difference may be noted in plumage via the sharp-shins lacking the capped appearance of adult Cooper's (being more hooded) and being generally slightly darker above. Juvenile sharp-shins, upon relatively leisurely study, can be seen to differ from juvenile Cooper's by having clearer supercilia, browner cheeks and less extensive whitish mottling above and also coarser streaking below extending more to belly. Bare parts, mostly distinguishable as well at close range, differ by the more centered and clearly relatively larger eyes and notably stick-like legs of the sharp-shins. However, often these features can often be difficult to impossible to discern when the hawks are seen in the wild. More distinctive in the field is the larger, more protruding head of the flying Cooper's hawks rather than the compact, rounded head of the sharp-shins which barely appear to exceed the leading edge of the wings in flight. Sometimes Cooper's is considered to look like a "flying cross" in comparison to the sharp-shins. "Accipiter" hawks of all species are seen mostly flying with quick, consecutive wing beats and a short glide (sometimes abbreviated as “flap-flap-glide”), though the species may also soar as well. However, the sharp-shinned hawk has a more buoyant flight with faster wing beats than the Cooper's and soars with flatter wings (although again variations in the field make these characteristics far from foolproof).


title: Cooper's hawk

text: As for the northern goshawk, the smallest male is still usually "clearly" larger than most large female Cooper's hawks. In the Goshutes mountains, migrant male goshawks overlapped with female Cooper's hawks only in the length of the tail and the tarsus, with the body mass especially being quite distinct. In Oregon, male goshawks averaged no less than 34% more massive than female Cooper's hawks, however the footpad of the Cooper's females was almost the same size (7% larger on average in the latter) as the male goshawks (these may be features adapted to procuring birds as prey more so as bird-hunting raptors tend to have more elongated foot morphology). Proportionately, goshawks have longer, broader wings, shorter tail and a generally more "Buteo"-like form overall. Adult goshawks also have broad supercilia, pale gray color on the underside and a much darker coloring on the back. Given reasonable views, adult goshawks are very different looking and hard to mistake for any Cooper's hawk. Meanwhile, the juvenile goshawk is much paler edged above than the smaller Cooper's, including a panel formed along larger wing coverts. Below, juvenile goshawks have heavier streaks of a darker brown color than juvenile Cooper's. Also, the banding on the tail is off-set on goshawks, creating a zigzag effect on the tail, unlike the even barring on the juvenile Cooper's. Again, though, female Cooper's and male goshawks can come close to the same size and the not dissimilar juvenile plumage of the two species can lead to regular misidentification, especially to those with less prior experience viewing the more scarce goshawk. The most reliable way to distinguish a large juvenile "Accipiter" in the field are the differing proportions of the two species, followed by the heavier streaking below and irregular tail banding of the goshawk. For the Cooper's hawk, there may be a possible and marginal overlap with the bicolored hawk ("Accipiter bicolor") in southern Mexico and Central America. The latter species of similar form and size but at all ages is generally unmarked with bars or streaks below, also with a more or less uniform mantle. Vagrating migrant Cooper's hawks to Cuba may very rarely occur alongside another close relative, Gundlach's hawk ("Accipiter gundlachi"), which is quite similar in most aspects to Cooper's but is slightly larger with a darker hue about the back and the cap, a gray cheek, more dense and rich rufous color on the underside and wing panel in adults and darker and more heavy streaking in juvenile form. More unlikely to be mistaken for a Cooper's hawk are some buteonine hawks such as gray hawks ("Buteo plagiatus"), roadside hawks ("Rupornis magnirostris") (in Mexico and points south) and broad-winged hawks ("Buteo platypterus") which are all similar in size to the Cooper's as well as the slightly larger red-shouldered hawk ("Buteo lineatus"). Even the most similar buteonine hawks have notably different proportions than a Cooper's hawk, possessing relatively much longer wings and a much shorter tail. Given reasonable views, all such species are fairly to extremely different in plumage even in juvenile form.


title: Cooper's hawk

text: The Cooper's hawk's breeding range extends from southern Canada to northern Mexico. In southern Canada, they breed (but do not normally winter) in the southerly parts of the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec to extreme southwestern Nova Scotia. They reach their northerly limits as a breeder roughly in Jasper National Park and Cedar Lake, Manitoba. Cooper's hawks live almost throughout the contiguous United States, excepting some parts of the southern Great Plains, as well as perhaps a bit of northwestern Maine and northernmost Montana. Their breeding range terminates just before the southern part of Gulf Coast states, south Florida, the southern tip of Texas and all but inland northwestern Mexico. Their Mexican breeding range consists of northern Baja California, the mountains from eastern Sonora and Chihuahua to Durango, also recently in northern Coahuila, formerly east into Nuevo Leon and south to Michoacán and possibly still in Guerrero. In Oaxaca, records show that the species has been recorded year-around with the first confirmed breeding reported in 2001. In winter, they are found up to the southern half of Washington, the southern two-thirds of Idaho and Wyoming, southern South Dakota, the southern parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan, extreme southwestern Ontario, southwestern and southeastern New York and New England up through all but northwestern Massachusetts and to the southeastern part of New Hampshire. In winter they range regularly throughout the parts of the southern United States where they do not breed, such as all Gulf Coast areas and in south Florida. Wintering Cooper's hawks are common through essentially all parts of Mexico, becoming less regular around Guatemala and isolated spots of the border of Honduras and Nicaragua, where the species is considered "infrequent but regular" as well as in central and southern Costa Rica and perhaps northern Panama. Vagrants have been recorded in Colombia. There are several cumulative records of Cooper's hawks also appearing in Cuba at times of migration but generally the species is still considered a vagrant rather than a regularly occurring species there.


title: Cooper's hawk

text: The Cooper's hawk tend to occur in various types of temperate deciduous forest and mixed forest. They are also adaptable in all seasons to forested mountainous regions, especially foothills. The species may further make itself at home in some pure conifer forest, including the extreme southern part of the taiga but also in many parts of the west. The species can habituate favorably while breeding to various kinds of open woodlands, including small woodlots, riparian woodlands in dry country, pinyon woodlands, farmlands and floodplains. In fact, some authors felt the species increased locally in wooded parts of the Rocky mountains after human habitat fragmentation of once continuous woodland areas. Adaptability to forest fragmentation has also been reported in other parts of the range.


title: Cooper's hawk

text: In denser forest areas, these hawks tend to prefer easy access to edges, clearings, roads and waterways. For example, average distance from waterways away from nests in Wisconsin and Utah was , respectively. However, in the Appalachians, there seemed to no detectable preference for access to water. Forest edges, in particular, tend to be key as these are peak hunting grounds for these hawks. Cooper's hawks usually occur at elevations from sea-level to , more infrequently up to . In the American southwest and northwestern Mexico, they are commonly considered a bird of wooded foothills, often dwelling above . Although they often live in areas where deciduous trees are predominant, almost throughout the range they are often attracted to stands of conifers, which, due to their density, provide more extensive shelter and perhaps a more sturdy nesting site. Therefore, in areas such as Massachusetts and Wisconsin, they most often used stands of white pines ("Pinus strobus"). Additional Wisconsin studies showed that exotic conifer stands now support many Cooper's hawks even where native woodland is available. Tall, native deciduous tree stands may still be used extensively elsewhere, i.e. American beeches ("Fagus grandifolia") in New York (nearly 40% of nest trees used) and oaks in Maryland (60% of trees used as nests). This species often prefers fairly mature forest, i.e. in two different areas of Oregon, the Cooper's hawks preferred areas with trees of 30–60 years old (and 656 trees per ha) and 50–70 years old (and 1159 trees per ha), respectively. On average, the number of trees per hectare in Arkansas were found to be 935.7. Canopy coverage is key to nesting Cooper's hawks, needing to be at minimum about 55–70%, averaging 55% in Wisconsin and 69.8% in Arizona.


title: Cooper's hawk

text: More so than breeding habitat, wintering habitat seems to be highly opportunistic. They may be found in any environment with some trees, including open woods, parkland and scrub areas. In Central America, wintering Cooper's hawks have been recorded in unusual habitats such as stunted cloud forest and treeless montane grassland. In most parts of the range, Cooper's hawks have shown to be somewhat adaptive to all gradients of human development, including urbanized areas and can even nests in many cities. They were once thought to be averse to cities and towns, but are now fairly common urban and suburban birds even when nesting. The species may even making use of isolated trees in suburbs, industrial parks and strip and shopping malls though large urban parks and other available wooded habitat is usually preferred in such areas when nesting. The cities provide plenty of prey species such as pigeons and doves and invasive species of bird for the Cooper's hawk to prey on. Evidence from a well-studied population in the city of Tucson, Arizona shows that Cooper's hawks are now considerably more common within the city than elsewhere in the surrounding regions. Despite the success of Cooper's hawks in Tucson, attempts to find breeding activity in Phoenix and Casa Grande were unsuccessful, it is thought that the ambient temperature was too high or beyond thermal tolerance levels. Although more adaptable in habitat than the sharp-shinned hawk, studies from Pennsylvania have indicated that the species still more often than not prefers sizeable tracts of woodland for breeding and migrating to fragmented, developed areas. Similarly, in Tennessee, it was found for wintering Cooper's hawks that forested areas were 73% of the habitats used, which is far more prevalent than woodland available in the environs (with only 46% remaining wooded).


title: Cooper's hawk

text: The Cooper's hawk is a typical "Accipiter" in all respects. This species tends to be active earlier in the morning than sharp-shinned hawks and Eurasian sparrowhawks ("Accipiter nisus") and is generally much more likely to be active in the morning than in the afternoon. These hawks may readily take to conifers to roost, generally sleeping with their heads tucked in. During daylight hours, they tend to preen while sitting on a perch about 11 times a day, and may take about 1–20 minutes to do so. When attaining water to drink, Cooper's hawks appear to prefer to come to relatively secluded waterways. In more arid regions, Cooper's hawks may seek out artificial bodies of water to drink from (especially in passage). Although a rare behavior, there are now several records of juvenile hawks of the species proning wherein they lie on their backs along a branch (or rarely the ground), apparently as a form of sunning. Cooper's hawks may come to walk on ground to gather nesting materials as well as to hunt. Cooper's hawks have a well-developed muscle mass that powers their flight, especially helping with acceleration during hunts and when carrying heavy prey. However, some other non-raptorial birds may have similar muscularity relative to their mass, such as the Canada goose ("Branta canadensis") and even pied-billed grebes ("Podilymbus podiceps"), and these ample muscle masses may be correlated with migratory (rather than hunting) behavior. Cooper's hawks have been recorded as engaging in an exaggerated, nighthawk-like flight in non-courtship circumstances, such as during migration or by recent fledglings. During the late nesting stage, parent Cooper's hawks were recorded during daylight in Utah to engage in soaring flight 8.4% for males and 8.1% of the time for females with a further 6.4% and 2.8% of the time in different kinds of flights, perching the remainder of the time (about 2–6 minutes at each perch interspersed with brief flights). Another study found 13.7% and 10.7% of daylight at this later breeding stage to be in flight, the rest of time perching, with occasional inactive perching spells of around 15–40 minutes. However, that inactivity could last up to 5 hours during heavy rainfall. Breeding adults generally engage in agonistic behavior when an interloper of their sex is present; 11 responses showed that males responses consisted 64% of the provocations, 9% of the time by females and both members 27% of the time. Frequent aggressive interactions were recorded between females, often yearling and second year vs older females. The Cooper's hawk's threat display appears to consist of them lowering their heads, raising their "crest" (capital tract), stretching out their wings, spreading the tail and engaging in vocalizations. Stress levels, as indicated by a study of corticosterone levels, were considered quite high when hawks are being handled by researchers, particularly in males (indicating that they experience higher levels of stress than females). The Cooper's hawk is subject to frequent mobbing by various birds and some mammals, with good cause, but evidence shows that even main prey types like jays will sometimes shy away from engaging in full-fledged mobbing of a Cooper's, perhaps due to the risk in closely approach this very agile predator, which can in an instant suddenly turn and kill a member of the mob. Therefore, less dangerous hawks such as "Buteos" are mobbed more vigorously than the more dangerous Cooper's. Many potential prey will confine their response to a hawk of this species to vocal scolding and/or attempt escape before an attack occurs.


title: Cooper's hawk

text: Like a majority of diurnal birds of prey in the Northern Hemisphere, the Cooper's hawk is a partial migrant. They tend to be most migratory in the north and largely to partially sedentary elsewhere. With individual exceptions, hawks of the species largely migrate out of nearly all of their range in southern Canada as well as cooler parts of the Pacific Northwest, essentially all of Montana and northern parts of surrounding states, the Dakotas (but for southern South Dakota), the northern parts of the Great Lake states, northern New York and much of New England. Despite being classed as sedentary, banding studies have revealed that many Cooper's hawks south of the typical migratory populations engage in some variety of seasonal winter movements. Migrants in the Florida Keys were determined via stable isotopes to have originated from mid-Atlantic states and the southeastern United States both (largely) south of the typical migratory range. While females in the urban areas of Tucson were sedentary (99%), about 6% of the females outside of the urban areas did not remain on their breeding grounds during winter. In British Columbia, many adults are non-migratory but juveniles do tend to migrate. From the Great Lakes region in particular, migrants appear to disperse in multiple directions to the south. Multi-directional movements, even to the north as well as potentially any other direction, are more common than previously thought in this and other migratory raptors, which has been previously described as "inefficient and indirect method of 'homing'". However, reaching regions where appropriate habitat and prey is available is probably far more significant in seasonal movements to birds of prey than climatic concerns. Fairly strong evidence has been found of habitual northbound migration by Cooper's hawks from Central and Southern California, usually over fairly short distances, often less than . However, the three longest distance movements from southern California were all northbound, i.e. . Cooper's hawks originating from Northern California do generally migrate south, mostly wintering in Mexico though sometimes covering up to to Central America. In Lansing, Michigan, evidence has been found of individual Cooper's hawks being annually devoted to the same wintering grounds, presumably due to their high quality.


title: Cooper's hawk

text: Migratory movements in the autumn are generally between late August to mid-October, peaking at the end of September and beginning of October in the east, but sometimes migration extend into November. Meanwhile, spring northward migration may be any time from the end of February to May, with the last ones leaving Mexico in April and very late individuals were passing over south Texas in late May. Generally, spring migration is more dispersed and less consistent than fall migration. There is evidence from the Great Lakes region that spring migration is occurring sooner due to warming temperatures in recent years. Passage appears to be timed to coincide with that of their main prey, medium-sized birds. In migration, first-year juveniles precede two-year-old hawks which themselves precede adults when moving south in fall. Furthermore, females of all ages tend to migrate sooner and spend longer in winter quarters than like-age males, the latter staying relatively north and traveling back again earlier. Interestingly, the sharp-shinned hawk (despite the even more dimorphic migration times between sexes) showed no strong difference in distance on migration between the sexes, unlike female Cooper's which sometimes can move considerably further than males. At regular western migration sites, the average difference of passage timing for Cooper's hawks of the earlier females and later males of like-age was five days. In the Marin Headlands, migration of the sexes differed by 6 days in juvenile, first-year females and males and by 11 days in older females and males. Like other "Accipiters" (but unlike falcons), Cooper's appear to not start moving until day is warmer and thermals can be used. During migration they favor mountain ridges and coastlines, which coincide with migratory raptors routes in general. This species can seem to cross some bodies of water unlike most sharp-shinned hawks but seldom do so over wide bodies of water. However, they have been seen to turn up in such oceanic vicinities as the Florida Keys and Cuba, and so are capable of crossing larger than usual bodies of water. It is thought that Cooper's hawks also avoid the Great Plains while migrating as well. Like many other raptors, Cooper's hawks favor strong northwesterly winds during autumn passage.


title: Cooper's hawk

text: At coastal migration sites like Cape May, first year Cooper's hawks are far more regularly encountered than older individuals, with the juvenile Cooper's accounting for 92.7% of recorded individuals of the species (juveniles of various other raptor species also generally seem to favor coastal over montane migration when it is available). In Cape May, Cooper's hawks are the third most commonly recorded raptor species in passage behind the sharp-shinned hawk and the American kestrel ("Falco sparverius") but are far less than numerous in migration or in winter in the nearby Delaware Bayshore locations of New Jersey than various other raptor species. Interestingly, in the Manzano Mountains and Goshute Mountains, juvenile sharp-shinned hawks were roughly twice as numerous as juvenile Cooper's hawks but the number of adults seen passing through of the two species was roughly the same. At the hawkwatch in Cedar Grove, Wisconsin, the Cooper's hawk was not among the most regular species, being the 6th most frequently most recorded species. In central and southwestern Idaho, Cooper's hawk accounted for relatively few of the recorded raptors, i.e. 3.45% of 748 migrating raptors. A similarly low volume was observed relative to other bird of prey species in Yellowstone National Park, where the Cooper's was only the 9th most frequently observed out of 17 species and averaged only 50 hawks in passage over the course of autumn. Nonetheless, the Cooper's hawk was second only to sharp-shinned hawk as the most frequently recorded species seen migrating at nine major hawkwatchs throughout the western United States (and 1 in Canada) and, unlike the sharp-shinned, has shown a trend of increase in numbers overall in recent decades, despite some declines in numbers at Lipan Point and Bridger Range. The Cooper's hawk was the 7th most often recorded raptor at four migration sites along the Gulf Coast, being much more frequently identified in the site at Veracruz, Mexico than the ones in the United States, but showed an annual stability of numbers that many of the more numerous raptors (including sharp-shinned hawks) in passage did not. Along the Kittatinny Ridge in Pennsylvania, studied Cooper's hawks that were migrating from further north spent only 12% of the day actually migrating, devoting the remainder of their time to perching and hunting along their passage. Fat stores were measured to consist of 4–12% of the body mass of migrants, being higher in autumn than in spring, and higher on average in adults over younger hawks and in females over males. Migration speeds appear to be largely similar to those of other raptors, with average speeds of , but one migrating from Colorado was recorded to cover about per day. Typically Cooper's hawk migrate singly but sometimes can be seen in groups of two to five. Flocking is not typically engaged in by raptors who migrate using powered flight, such as "Accipiters", falcons and harriers, but many "Buteo" hawks do form loose flocks. 96.3% of 806 observed Cooper's hawk seen migrating in Johnson County, Iowa were solitary, although 30 migrating pairs were seen together.


title: Cooper's hawk

text: Cooper's hawks are known as bold and aggressive predators. Given their dietary habits, these hawks bore a poor reputation well into the 20th century, with one account describing the species as "noxious", an "avian outlaw" and "a relentless tyrant and murderer of small birds". Another describes the species as "bloodthirsty" and a "villain". Early accounts underestimated the opportunistic nature of the Cooper's hawks’ hunting behavior and provided little insight into the actual effect the hawks have on their prey. The maximum hunting range was estimated at in Michigan and in Wyoming. In another Michigan study, most Cooper's hawks were found to be flying from their wooded nests to hunt on agricultural ground. Males in New York usually covered more than , sometimes up to , during hunting efforts when flying away from the nest area. Due to scattered prey availability in North Florida, females were nearly nomadic, wandering anywhere where food could be accessed (i.e. chicken farms, feedlots, bird feeders, etc.), while males were more typically devoted to hunting on their regular home range. During hunts, Cooper's hawks rely on agile, twisting flights between bouts of perching and scanning, their flight suddenly picking up speed upon approach to the prey. Hunting hawks typically use forest edge, open woodland and fencelines and such while hunting. In southwestern Tennessee, the preferred hunting habitats in the non-breeding season were forest, then woodland edge, then lastly open country. Near Stevens Point in Wisconsin, males prefer to hunt in quiet woods while females preferred to stay within of the nest making males a more common sight. This differed strongly in Tucson where hawks while hunting mostly in manmade environments such as residential areas, regional parks, and golf courses more so than they were prevalent in the environment, though usually where there were large (albeit usually non-native) trees. The Cooper's hawk does attack birds attracted to bird feeders with a fair amount of frequency. However, data from Indiana showed that birds using bird feeders were at no greater risk of attack than those in random transects, and the effect Cooper's can have on feeder birds may be at times exaggerated.


title: Cooper's hawk

text: If it sees birds when flying, a hunting hawk does not fly directly to them but instead circles around to available trees and bushes often perching for a few moments before launching its attack. If birds become aware of it, the hawk will tend to quickly gain height in hopes of intercepting some prey. It was found compared to some other North American raptors who are more likely to watch for prey on the ground and/or in the open, that the Cooper's hawk had a rather enlarged binocular field. During hunts, these hawks may suddenly alight when detecting an available mammal. Sometimes, Cooper's hawks will engage in tandem hunts with one dashing around after the prey while another waits on the other side of a tree trunk or wooded thicket. Many birds are caught when they inadvertently fly around a tree where a hawk is inconspicuously perched. Young Cooper's are impetuous about crashing into bushes after prey, sometimes even into thorny cover such as barberries, whereas adults are said to be more "prudent". They may chase prey into cover or from bush to bush. The first instance of non-piratical scavenging on carrion was recorded when a Cooper's hawk was seen eating at a white-tailed deer ("Odocoileus virginianus") carcass.


title: Cooper's hawk

text: When hunting bats, they can follow all twists and turns, and may succeed in capture in up to 90% of hunts. Much like goshawk, sometimes Cooper's hawks will capture rabbits by pursuing on the ground, half-running, half-flying. Other on-foot hunting efforts, especially when chasing quail, have been detected as well. When hunting sparrows, Cooper's hawks may make multiple passes on a bush before success and the efforts can take up to 45 minutes. During hunts of rock doves ("Columba livia)" in urban areas, Cooper's hawks have been seen to engage in open air stoops to capture the prey. An unusual harrier-like flight was seen in be engaged in by a Cooper's hawk before an attack on aquatic prey in a marsh. Most prey is killed by repeatedly kneading the talons, with the kneading sometimes going on even after death, although in some cases birds are plucked while still alive. Despite its gracile appearance, the Cooper's hawk, like the northern goshawk, is extremely powerful for its size and presumably able to capture larger prey relative to its size than other raptors such as falcons and "Buteos" (including red-tailed hawks ("Buteo jamaicensis")) due to its unusually high-speed foot velocity and resulting impact during prey captures. At times, after capture, Cooper's hawk have been seen to hold still living prey underwater, presumably trying to drown it. Subsequent to the preys’ demise, they may eat the victim head first, followed by the viscera, with the meat eaten lastly. Like other raptors who most regularly take birds, the Cooper's hawk was profiled in a study as an "attacker" rather than a "searcher" (i.e. mammal-hunters such as "Buteos"). "Attackers" such as "Accipiters" and large falcons usually had lower average hunting success rates, which averaged among the attacker species at 27%, due to the difficulty of capturing the prey. 33% of 45 observed hunts in a study in Missouri were successful. In Terre Haute, Indiana, about 23% of attacks by male Cooper's hawks and 20% by females were successful and were far more prone to being carried out in relatively open areas than those of nearby sharp-shinned hawk. Post-fledgling parties of hawks in Wisconsin were seen to hunt in sibling groups of 2–4, mainly pursuing chipmunks, and were observed to succeed in 56% of 18 hunting attempts. During the first six weeks after the young hatch, in New York, it was estimated that a male Cooper's hawk would need to procure about 66 prey items over the period. In these first six weeks in California, it was thought a minimum of would be required per nestling per day.


title: Cooper's hawk

text: Cooper's hawk may consume well over 300 prey species from across the range. This predator is known to consume vertebrate prey almost exclusively. Often smallish or medium-sized birds are the preferred food, but also many small mammals and, in more arid vicinities, lizards are regularly taken. Infrequently, frogs may be eaten, as will (rarely) insects and fish in nearly dry watercourse. Birds in general form about 50–85% of diet. One estimate is that globally birds form about 71.1% of the diet, 17.9% mammals, 8.9% reptiles and 2.1% other prey. Cooper's hawks generally prefers birds that inhabit the ground or shrub level within the local habitats. One estimate claims that most prey of Cooper's hawks weighs from , with male and female averages of . Another estimate was from for typical prey sizes, or about 5–37% the weight of males and 8–22% the weight of females, respectively. However, subsequent studies, such as those in Indiana, found prey weighing up to (such as adult pigeons) can be quite common in the diet of Cooper's hawks. Mean prey weights were roughly . In Oregon, the mean prey sizes of Cooper's hawk was , with larger prey was taken than in greater proportion than their occurrence in the ecosystem (indicating that they locally search out relatively large prey). In Missouri, mean prey sizes were , averaging between amongst the main prey classes. Prey delivered by males averaged an estimated , while the average estimated size of prey delivered by females was . Overall, in Missouri, prey body masses were estimated to range from . One study unusually found no strong dimorphism in the foods selected by males and females.


title: Cooper's hawk

text: Birds are by far the leading prey for Cooper's hawks in most areas. A wide diversity of birds, considerably over 250 species, are known to be taken, constituting more than three-quarters of known prey species for these hawks. A Cooper's hawk is estimated to kill an average of two birds a day, or 700 birds a year. Although prior data mostly reflected the taking of adult birds, a study in Wisconsin revealed that Cooper's hawks may largely take young of the year, mostly fledglings but also not infrequently nestlings, during the breeding season. 74% of ageable bird prey in this study were young of the year. Similarly, in Michigan during summer, immature birds were more than 2.5 times more often delivered to Cooper's hawk nests than adult birds. In one case, a Cooper's hawk was seen to fly away with an entire occupied nest of American goldfinches ("Spinus tristis"). One study determined that birds that nest in the canopy level tended to nest fairly close to this hawk but those with mid-level, shrub level and ground level nests nested farther away, indicating that non-canopy-nesting birds are generally taken during the breeding season. Key to prey selection for Cooper's hawk is the availability and abundance of birds in a given region. Therefore, the extremely numerous American robin ("Turdus migratorius") appears to be the most widely reported prey species. Robins were the leading prey species in northwestern Oregon, at 19.6% of 281 prey items, Lopez Island, Washington, 23.4% of 107 prey items, in Victoria, British Columbia, at 34.6% of 2896 prey items and prominent but ranked second also in California (Berkeley and Albany) food studies, 24.5% of 1057 prey items. The robin is regularly hunted in all seasons due to its commonality in exurban regions, with both adults, at estimated averages of when taken, and young being relatively easy for them to access. Beyond the common robin, nearly all thrushes in North America (excluding one species whose breeding range is largely north of the Cooper's range and one rare, little-studied species) are opportunistically hunted by Cooper's hawks. The closest rival to the robin in being most widely taken as prey for Cooper's hawks may be the common starling ("Sturnus vulgaris"), a non-native bird in North America with mean weights when taken of . The starling was the main food for these hawks in Ithaca, New York, at 28.2% of 857 prey items, and Terre Haute, Indiana, at 56.5% of 57 prey items, and taken in large but somewhat secondary numbers in Missouri, Michigan, and Victoria, British Columbia. In the urban environment of Terre Haute, it was found that starlings were taken in almost the same proportion as starlings were of all birds observed by researchers (i.e. they were 60% of 2146 individual birds seen).


title: Cooper's hawk

text: Somewhat over 60% of the bird species known in the Cooper's hawks’ prey spectrum are passerines (including thrushes and starlings). Other medium-sized to largish-bodied families of passerines tend to be most often selected. In many circumstances, Cooper's hawks will hunt corvids, large, intelligent and social passerines, with the smallish jays being particularly popular. In Missouri, the most often selected prey (12.7% of 259 prey items) was the blue jay ("Cyanocitta cristata"), which also important in northern Florida, i.e. 12.27% of 1100 prey items. Steller's jays ("Cyanocitta stelleri"), at a larger western cousin of the blue jay, are also regularly selected in various studies, such as all studied areas of Oregon and New Mexico, where it was the second most regularly selected of prey species at 11.7% of 316 prey items. California scrub jays ("Aphelocoma californica") are regular supplemental prey in northern California studies as well. Blue jays and other related species are among the most diligent mobbing birds in response to the presence of a Cooper's hawk although sometimes may let out an alarm call or even imitate a Cooper's calls merely to frighten other birds from a desired food source. It was hypothesized that Steller's jays may be able to effectively confuse a Cooper's hawk by engaging in a chorus of calls at close range. In Arizona, Mexican jays ("Aphelocoma ultramarina") are known to play a key role in flicker ecology by watching out for Cooper's hawks. Numerous other corvids may be hunted, including most overlapping jays, as well as the Clark's nutcracker ("Nucifraga columbiana"), black-billed magpie ("Pica hudsonius"), possibly yellow-billed magpie ("Pica nuttalli") and a few species of crow. One black-billed magpie was caught and killed by a Cooper's hawk when attempting to mob the hawk. Incidents of predation have been witnessed on both young and adult American crow ("Corvus brachyrhynchos"), as well as on adult northwestern crow ("Corvus caurinus"). These hawks are also a potential predator of fish crow ("Corvus ossifragus"). However, crows are potentially dangerous prey to Cooper's hawks. Adult American crows are about the same size as a female Cooper's hawk and can potentially cause considerable damage to a lone raptor during group mobbing, being capable of inflicting damage with both their feet and bill. In at least one case, a murder of American crows was observed to drive a Cooper's hawk to the ground and possibly seriously injure it, although the fate of the hawk was not certain. Cases of missing toes on Cooper's hawks are thought to have possibly come from failed predation of crows. At least a dozen species of icterid are known to be hunted by Cooper's hawks as well. Common, widespread icterids such as red-winged blackbirds ("Agelaius phoeniceus") and common grackles ("Quiscalus quiscula") are fairly frequent prey for these hawks. Cooper's hawks nesting near red-winged blackbird colonies may at times live almost entirely off of female blackbirds. In the Black Hills, although prey species were seldom identified, evidence showed that most regularly selected prey were assorted icterids. Even meadowlarks, such as the eastern meadowlark ("Sturnella magna") which was the third most often selected prey in Ithaca, New York, and bobolinks ("Dolichonyx oryzivorus") are taken despite their preference for grasslands well outside the typical habitats of Cooper's hawks.


title: Cooper's hawk

text: Other passerines families (i.e. outside thrushes, corvids and icterids) tend to not be as large-bodied and, although by no means neglected, are seldom equal in overall dietary importance (biomass). About 15 species of tyrant flycatcher, several species each of vireo, swallows, tits, nuthatches, wrens, mimids, about a dozen species of finch, cardinalids and a huge diversity of American sparrows and New World warblers (nearly 30 species each) are known to be taken by Cooper's hawks. A lower diversity are taken of shrikes, larks, penduline tits, aegithalids, treecreepers, dippers, silky-flycatchers and longspurs. The more numerous native passerines, such as northern cardinals ("Cardinalis cardinalis") and northern mockingbirds ("Mimus polyglottos"), have good reason to fear these hawks as they are widely and regularly taken as are even common birds of less than half their size (around ), such as song sparrows ("Melospiza melodia"), dark-eyed juncos ("Junco hiemalis") and house finches ("Haemorhous mexicanus"). During harsh late winter weather in Wisconsin, Cooper's hawks were recorded to eke out an existence living largely off of pine siskins ("Spinus pinus"). In modern terms, certainly the most commonly taken small bird would be the non-native, house sparrow ("Passer domesticus"). Although not known to be taken profusely in all studied urban locales, house sparrows were the leading prey in a study from Michigan, were nearly a third of observed delivered prey at nests in Victoria, British Columbia (although were outnumbered by robins in prey remains) and reportedly were the leading prey in Milwaukee and in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Flycatchers are not hugely significant in the Cooper's hawk's foods, but the local effect of the hawks on populations can be considerable. For example, willow flycatchers ("Empidonax traillii") in California suffered a 76% rate of nest predation, among which Cooper's hawks were a considerable contributor, and dusky flycatchers ("Empidonax oberholseri") experienced a rate of 96% predation elsewhere in California, with 25% attributable to Cooper's. Similar determent to the local nesting attempts of other small passerines such as warblers has also been reported. Chickadees seem to regard Cooper's hawks as a moderate threat based on their anti-predator response, with smaller raptors (which are presumably more dangerous) such as sharp-shinned hawks and small owls evoking a rather more aggressive response by chickadees. While usually the smallest avian prey selected by Cooper's hawks are various warblers (presumably taken mainly by male hawks), down to the size of the Wilson's warbler ("Cardellina pusilla"), even smaller passerines are known to be hunted. The smallest known avian prey species have included the verdin ("Auriparus flaviceps"), the ruby-crowned kinglet ("Regulus calendula") and the bushtit ("Psaltriparus minimus"). Even smaller birds, the hummingbirds, are essentially immune to Cooper's hawks (due to their own extreme agility) and were seen to incidentally benefit from nesting close to the hawks in California, due to a low risk of predators approaching while the hawks are present.


title: Cooper's hawk

text: Outside of passerines, almost certainly the most important avian prey type is the pigeon and dove family. Especially for those living in urban areas, Cooper's hawks have seemed to take to living heavily off of doves, particularly the abundant and widely found mourning dove ("Zenaida macroura"), at . Mourning doves appear to be hunted regularly in almost any part of the two species’ mutual range. In Tucson, recent data shows that Cooper's hawks are living almost exclusively on doves. Among 151 prey items there, mourning doves were 20.5% by number and 27.5% of the biomass, Inca doves ("Columbina inca") were 18.5% by number and 12.2% of the biomass and white-winged dove ("Zenaida asiatica") 17.2% by number and 27.1% of the biomass. In Terre Haute, Indiana, mourning doves and rock doves were 14% and 21% of the diet, respectively. In northern California, mourning doves were the main prey species, making up 25.6% of 1057 prey items. There is even evidence that bluebirds have perceived the change in preference of Cooper's hawks to more profitable prey such as doves in developed areas and show less inhibition to the hawk's presence. In the more rural north Florida, again the mourning dove leads the prey selection, accounting for 16.5% of 1100 prey items. Another popular prey family is the woodpeckers. A rather numerous and widely distributed species, the northern flicker ("Colaptes auratus"), is a particular dietary staple of Cooper's hawks, being about the third most widely reported prey species. The flicker was the main prey in northern New Mexico, at 22.5% of 316 prey items, and in southern Wisconsin, at 22% of 77 prey items. Flickers are common prey elsewhere as well, such as in Ithaca, New York. Medium-sized woodpeckers, such as red-headed woodpeckers ("Melanerpes erythrocephalus") and red-bellied woodpeckers ("Melanerpes carolinus") were important secondary prey in different parts of the range. In South Carolina, it was found that 15% of the red-headed woodpeckers in a study population were killed by hawks. All told, about 20 species (almost all in North America but for a couple poorly-studied species) of woodpecker are known to be taken, ranging from the smallest, the downy woodpecker ("Picoides pubescens"), to the largest, the pileated woodpecker ("Dryocopus pileatus"). The response of woodpeckers to a sighted Cooper's hawks varies, with evidence showing that downy woodpecker and flickers would behave more boldly and themselves may scold the hawk if part of a mixed flock but, if alone, the woodpecker will typically try to flee. Despite the regularity of predation of woodpeckers that are in the open, a study in British Columbia shows indicated Cooper's hawks seldom prey upon woodpecker nests, perhaps due to being unable to access their secluded, smallish nest holes, with the study showing that the most regular predators of such nests were various mammals (from deermice to bears).


title: Cooper's hawk

text: Certainly the most controversial aspect of the Cooper's hawks are their predations upon galliforms. By far the most regularly selected types are New World quails. Coveys of quails that attempt to evade predators by running into thick vegetation (which can allow them to successfully escape many predators) often find that Cooper's hawks are undeterred by this, as the hawks may chase them either on the wing or on foot into thickets. However, one grouse was seen to successfully evade a hunting Cooper's hawk by diving belly first into about a foot of snow. Cooper's hawks are often regarded as perhaps the most regular natural predator of northern bobwhites ("Colinus virginianus"). Indeed, the rate of predation by Cooper's does appear to exceed that committed by other species of hawk as well as that by large owls. For instance, during winter in Wisconsin, Cooper's hawks were thought to kill 3.4–12.5% of the local bobwhite population. However, the bobwhite appears to be a secondary prey species in all known studies and there is no evidence that Cooper's hawk predation alone can deplete bobwhite populations, unlike causes directly contributable to man such as overhunting and habitat destruction. In Washington state, female Cooper's hawks took many California quails ("Callipepla californica"), which were estimated to constitute 47% of the prey selected by female hawks, but there was far too little impact overall to affect the quail's overall population. In the rural areas outside of Tucson, Gambel's quail ("Callipepla gambelii") were found to be the most regularly selected prey species, at 15.2% of 79 prey items. A study of pellets in northwestern Mexico to determine if the local Cooper's hawks were regularly taking Montezuma quail ("Cyrtonyx montezumae"), finding that only one pellet consisted entirely of quail, the other pellets showing that hawks were mainly taking other prey, mostly doves. Most regularly found galliforms in North America (including well-established exotics such as chukars ("Alectoris chukar") and common pheasants ("Phasianus colchicus")) are known to fall prey occasionally to Cooper's hawks. These include assorted native grouse, including even the grassland-dwelling species (but excluding the more northerly distributed ptarmigans). Juveniles usually are the more vulnerable and more regularly taken of non-quail galliforms by Cooper's hawks, but the hawks can take adults quite regularly despite the prey's relatively large size. Adult ruffed grouse ("Bonasa umbellus"), weighing an estimated mean of when taken, are not infrequently exploited as prey, while adult sooty grouse ("Dendragapus fuliginosus"), estimated to weigh when taken have also been known to be taken repeatedly. Adult male sharp-tailed grouse ("Tympanuchus phasianellus"), which average , are also known have been successfully preyed upon by Cooper's hawks. Even more impressive accounts show adult common pheasant estimated to weigh up to can be preyed upon by Cooper's hawks. One wild turkey ("Meleagris gallopavo") taken in Florida was cited with a weight of , which is the size of an adult. However, given that this is of enormous size relative to a Cooper's hawk, it would require verification that the turkey was this large and was taken alive by the hawk. Not unexpectedly, turkey poults are known to fall prey to Cooper's hawks.


title: Cooper's hawk

text: Beyond aforementioned families and orders, other types of birds are taken relatively infrequently. Usually moderate to low numbers of water birds are taken of any variety. About 5 species each of duck and heron, a dozen species of shorebird and a smaller assortment of grebes and rails are known in the prey spectrum. Even among water birds, nonetheless, a wide diversity may be taken, from the tiny least sandpiper ("Calidris minutilla") to an adult mallard ("Anas platyrhynchos") estimated to weigh when taken. Adult ducks and herons of roughly equal weight to Cooper's hawks and other largish adult water birds including ring-billed gulls ("Larus delewarensis") and American coots ("Fulica americana") are sometimes tackled by these hawks. Particularly frequency was recorded of cattle egrets ("Bubulcus ibis") in north Florida, where the egrets were the fourth most regularly recorded prey species. Assorted families of land birds are fairly rare as reported in food studies, including some nightjars, trogons, swifts, kingfishers, parrots and assorted other raptorial birds.


title: Cooper's hawk

text: A lower diversity of species and lower overall numbers of mammals are taken relative to bird prey but mammalian prey can be locally important. Chipmunks are often regularly hunted in various regions, though only about one-third of North American chipmunks are known in the prey spectrum. High balances of the relatively large eastern chipmunk ("Tamias striatus") were found in studies from New York, Michigan and Wisconsin. The eastern chipmunk appeared to dominate the foods of Cooper's hawks in the Green Ridge State Forest in Maryland, at 49.1% of 57 prey items and mammals altogether made up an exceptional 66.9% of the foods. In the western United States, fewer chipmunks are identifiable but such prey is fairly commonly detected. High balances of chipmunks were found in food studies from Oregon, especially in eastern Oregon where chipmunks (unidentified to species) were the leading prey type, at 22.5% of 120 prey items. The most common chipmunk prey in Oregon is probably the Townsend's chipmunk ("Neotamias townsendii") but the Cooper's hawks may take chipmunks down to the size of the least chipmunk ("Neotamias minimus"). Mammals distantly related to chipmunks, such as ground squirrels (including antelope squirrels) can be taken in locally high volume. Golden-mantled ground squirrels ("Callospermophilus lateralis") were the second most important prey in eastern Oregon at 16.6%. Thirteen-lined ground squirrels ("Ictidomys tridecemlineatus") were the second most common prey species in a study from Wisconsin and also important in the diet in North Dakota (where they were the most significant contributor of biomass, constituting 23.4%). Golden-mantled and thirteen-lined ground squirrels are fairly small for ground squirrels, the earlier averaging , the latter of similar size. A few larger ground squirrels may be hunted, such as California ground squirrels ("Otospermophilus beecheyi") and rock squirrels ("Otospermophilus variegatus"), both averaging over in adults, albeit infrequently. Tree squirrels are widely taken but secondary prey for Cooper's hawks. The smallish, roughly American red squirrel ("Tamiasciurus hudsonicus") are not infrequent prey in northerly locations. About 36 red squirrels were recorded in the foods of Cooper's hawk in Ithaca, New York and these squirrels appear to have specific alarm calls that are provoked by these hawks, however the rate of predation by Cooper's appears to be low relative to other predators overall. Reported when taking red squirrels, male Cooper's hawks, being relatively small, may tear the prey into pieces that can be transported by them to the nest. Numerous other tree squirrels are taken occasionally by Cooper's hawks. Sizes of tree squirrels taken by Cooper's hawks were studied in Missouri. Eastern gray squirrels ("Sciurus carolinensis") were taken of up to adult size but fox squirrels ("Sciurus niger") were only taken as juveniles, as the adults, sometimes scaling up to , were apparently too formidable for the Cooper's. The estimated weights of both the gray and fox squirrels taken in Missouri was , with the gray contributing 10.9% of the biomass.


title: Cooper's hawk

text: About 20 non-sciurid rodent species may be taken by Coopers hawks but are rarely significant in the foods. Both American species of flying squirrels, woodrats, commoner "Peromyscus" mice, some species of vole and lemming, cotton rats, jumping mice, kangaroo rats and non-native rodents may all be prey occasionally, although most species of these are fairly nocturnal and thus of limited access. Few of these types of rodents are taken frequently enough to warrant much individual mention. Unidentified woodrats, at a mean estimated mass of were significant to the biomass of Cooper's hawks in northwestern Oregon. In North Dakota, "Peromyscus" mice made up an unusually high 13.5% of the foods. In the city of Burnaby, when bird feeders began to attract black rats ("Rattus rattus"), Cooper's hawk's came to locally take significant numbers of both young and adult rats. The first verified predation by a Cooper's hawk on a brown rat ("Rattus norvegicus") was recently reported, also in British Columbia. One broad study found a somewhat unexpected correlation was found positively relating the previous summer's rodent density to the number of Cooper's hawks. This could be coincidental as rodent populations are probably driven by acorn production in the year prior to the rodent increases, and many of the birds taken regularly by Cooper's are also partially acorn dependent. Occasionally, Cooper's hawks may capture profitable mammalian prey such as rabbits and hares. Mainly, predation has been reported on the cottontail rabbits. Strong numbers of mountain cottontail ("Sylvilagus nuttallii"), averaging about when taken, were reported in northwestern Oregon (7.82% and fifth most regular prey species). In the rural vicinity of Tucson, cottontail rabbits were the second most regularly selected type of prey, at 12.7%. Fairly strong numbers of cottontails were also reported in New Mexico and Durango. In Missouri, the widely found eastern cottontail ("Sylvilagus floridanus") was the most significant contributor of biomass, making up 14.5% of the total biomass. On average, in Missouri, the body mass of eastern cottontails caught was , indicating juvenile eastern cottontails are usually caught. However, there are several known cases of adult eastern cottontails falling prey to Cooper's hawks, including cottontails estimated to weigh from . Various species of non-cottontail rabbit may occasionally be caught, including young black-tailed jackrabbits ("Lepus californicus"), pygmy rabbits ("Brachylagus idahoensis") as well as fairly large numbers of feral European rabbits ("Oryctolagus cuniculus") in Victoria, British Columbia.


title: Cooper's hawk

text: Mammals of other orders are taken quite infrequently, with a low volume of shrews and moles reported. Cooper's hawks are considered a potential predator of the smaller species of weasel and were recorded in Florida to kill a striped skunk ("Mephitis mephitis") kit estimated to weigh about . Occasionally, Cooper's hawks are known to hunt bats. They are said to usually capture bats on the wing rather than search them out. Findings were that in Carlsbad Caverns that Cooper's (and also sharp-shinned) hawks were the most efficient avian predators of bats near the cave entrance (rating as more successful than most "Buteo" hawks and particularly more so than larger and less agile raptors like red-tailed hawks and large owls). Per observation in Carlsbad, due to their agility, the Cooper's can match the evasive flight of a bat and may be successful in about 90% of observed pursuits. Apart from their well-documented predation of Mexican free-tailed bats ("Tadarida brasiliensis"), quite little is known about which bat species Cooper's hawk's may prey upon and at what level do the local hawks depend on such prey. Apart from caves, sometimes Cooper's hawks have been seen to capture bats in urbanized areas.


title: Cooper's hawk

text: In some areas, respectable numbers of reptiles may be hunted. All told, nearly 30 species of reptile may be hunted by Cooper's hawks. In the eastern part of the range, even in biodiverse locations for reptilian species such as Florida, a very low volume of such prey are reportedly taken by Cooper's hawks. In Arkansas, a small sample of road-killed Cooper's hawks showed that small reptiles were more common than birds amongst the stomach contents, with Bougainville's skinks ("Lerista bougainvillii") and ring-necked snakes ("Diadophis punctatus") constituting about 40% of the diet. Strong detection of reptilian prey is known in more western locations, especially farther south. In fact, of avian predators in one Californian study's estimation, the Cooper's hawks showed the most reliance on lizards locally, but that the Cooper's was not locally common in the study area so had relatively limited impact. In California, it was found that 69% of the diet was reptiles, most of which were assorted lizards (led by whiptail lizards, nearly of which were estimated to be found in one nest). In rural areas outside of Tucson, a fairly strong presence of (unidentified to species) spiny lizards, at 13% of 77 prey items, although overall in all areas of the Tucson metropolitan, reptiles constituted a lower 8% of the total 228 prey items. In Durango, reptiles were a pronounced part of the Cooper's hawk diet. Here, the most frequently identified prey species was the Mexican Plateau horned lizard ("Phrynosoma orbiculare") (11.5% of 191 prey items), followed by the northern flicker and thirdly the crevice spiny lizard ("Sceloporus poinsettia") (10.47%, plus other unidentified spiny lizards making up a further 4.2% of the diet). In Arizona, spiny lizards were similarly detected to have a strong prey-predator relationship with Cooper's hawks as well. Most lizards encountered and hunted by Cooper's hawks are fairly small but, despite being more scarcely selected, snake prey may show greater size variation. Snakes known to be taken have ranged in size from the redbelly snake ("Storeria occipitomaculata") to the a young black rat snake ("Pantherophis obsoletus"), estimated to weigh , and the gopher snake ("Pituophis catenifer") (adults of the latter two snake species can average roughly for both species and may be too formidable for these hawks). Unlike with reptiles, there is little evidence that the Cooper's hawk regularly hunts amphibians in any area, despite a few species being known in the prey spectrum. While some authors have posited that as much as 2.1% of the Cooper's hawks global prey consists of invertebrates, prevailing food studies tend to find scant to none evidence of such prey; however, a truly exceptional case of Cooper's hawks found dead in Arkansas showed that beetles and moths/butterflies each represented 12.5% of detected prey items.