Cooper’s Hawks are medium-sized accipiters common across Arizona, easily recognized by their long, barred tails, gray backs, and sharp, rounded wings. Adults have a salmon-colored, finely barred breast and red eyes, while juveniles show brown streaking on a white breast with yellow eyes. Highly adaptable, they are found year-round in both natural woodlands and urban areas, including neighborhoods, parks, golf courses, and cemeteries, with Tucson supporting one of the highest densities of these hawks in the country. Agile and powerful fliers, they hunt primarily small to medium birds such as doves, pigeons, and starlings, but also take small mammals and occasionally reptiles, often pursuing prey through dense vegetation with rapid wingbeats followed by short glides. They nest in tall trees, building stick platforms lined with softer materials; the female lays two to six pale bluish eggs, which are incubated for about a month, and the chicks fledge after another four to five weeks. Generally quiet, Cooper’s Hawks give a nasal “kek-kek-kek” call during the breeding season or when alarmed. Once reduced in numbers due to persecution and the effects of DDT, they have made a strong recovery and now have stable, healthy populations throughout North America.
Juvenile
Juvenile
