The Cooper's Hawk (Accipiter cooperii) is a large (14 - 20 inches) hawk with a long narrow tail and short rounded wings, like all accipiters (bird hawks). It is slate-gray above with a dark cap and rust colored barring below. The wingspan is 29 to 37 inches.
Their flight pattern consists of a few short wing beats followed by a glide. The voice sounds like kek kek kek.
The Sharp-shinned Hawk is similar but smaller. The Cooper's Hawk inhabits broken deciduous woodlands and river groves.
The nest is bulky, made of branches and twigs and lined with bark, and placed high in a tree. Three to five whitish eggs (1.9 x 1.6 inches) spotted with brown are laid. A new nest is built each year.
The Cooper's Hawk feeds mostly on birds and some small mammals and invertebrates. It hunts in trees and thickets and relentlessly pursues its prey, darting in among the branches.
The range of the Cooper's Hawk is from southern Canada to northern Mexico.
Order: Falconiformes | Family: Accipitridae | Species: Accipiter cooperii
