Birds
Cooper's Hawk
Accipiter cooperii · also called Cooper's hawks
From a hidden perch near a backyard bird feeder, a Cooper’s hawk watches the songbirds gathering below, treating the same feeder that draws in prey as a reliable hunting ground rather than an obstacle to avoid.
Overview
Cooper’s hawk, Accipiter cooperii, is an agile forest hawk native to forest and, increasingly, suburban habitat with mature trees across a broad range of North America. Its remarkable adaptation to hunting at backyard bird feeders, fast and manoeuvrable flight through dense cover, and strong population recovery following the DDT ban make it one of the more successful and behaviourally adaptable birds of prey in North America.
A hunter that turned suburbs into an advantage
Rather than avoiding human development, Cooper’s hawk has learned to exploit it directly, treating the concentration of songbirds at backyard feeders as a dependable food source most other forest hawks never bother to use.
Status
Least Concern — widespread and increasing across suitable forest and suburban habitat throughout North America, having rebounded strongly since the ban on DDT.
Cooper's Hawk: common questions
Why does Cooper's hawk hang around backyard bird feeders?
This species has adapted successfully to suburban habitat, recognising that bird feeders reliably attract smaller songbirds, and it uses this concentration of potential prey as an efficient hunting ground, ambushing feeder visitors from cover rather than needing to search more widely across natural forest habitat.
How can you identify a Cooper's hawk in flight?
Look for short, rounded wings and a long tail, combined with a distinctive flap-flap-glide flight pattern that alternates rapid wingbeats with short glides, a build and flight style well suited to manoeuvring quickly through dense trees and shrubs while pursuing agile bird prey.
Why did Cooper's hawk populations decline and then recover?
This species declined sharply in the mid-20th century as the pesticide DDT accumulated in its body and thinned its eggshells, causing widespread reproductive failure, but following the US ban on DDT in the 1970s, populations rebounded strongly and the species is now common across much of its range, including many suburban areas.
Are female Cooper's hawks bigger than males?
Yes, a female of this species is noticeably larger than a male, a size difference common among birds of prey generally and thought to help reduce direct competition between male and female pairs for the same size range of prey, allowing a breeding pair to exploit a broader range of available food.