While on a recent short visit to LaSalle marina I overheard a couple of photographers discussing a Cooper’s Hawk. I stopped to watch the bird they were immortalizing: it was surprisingly large and was standing on the ground up in the forested area, eating a fresh kill. I asked the observers if they saw what it had caught. They said it was a bird: no surprise there for a Cooper’s Hawk, but not as interesting as if they knew it was a Hairy Woodpecker or a Starling. I took a few very quick photos and continued to my next errand.
What Type Was That Hungry Hawk in the Woods?
When I was at home later, I browsed through the eBird checklists for the day for LaSalle. I was not convinced the bird I had seen was a Cooper’s Hawk.
Of course as is typical of birds posing for photos for me, this one had preferred to only show me its tail-end view making identifying it more difficult!
it had seemed large for a Cooper’s; It was not an adult (They have definitive red markings on the chest); It had a yellow eye like an immature Red-tailed Hawk; And it didn’t have a distinctly noticeable cap. I vaguely knew that young Red-tailed Hawks have tails with bars.
This is a photo of an adult Cooper’s hawk at Col Sam Smith–much easier to id with the red markings and noticeable cap!
Although no one had posted a photo of the feeding bird, Joanne Redwood had posted photos of both a Red-tailed Hawk and a Cooper’s Hawk she had seen that day. Looking at them I noticed a clue: the tails of immature Red-tailed Hawks, while barred do not look exactly like those of Cooper’s Hawks.
A Trick of the Tail (and yes I like Genesis)
A few broad tail bars = most likely a Cooper’s not a Red-tailed Hawk
I snooped around the internet comparing the tails of young Red-tailed and Cooper’s hawks in various photos. From what I could see, young Cooper’s Hawks have only a few broad bars on their tails. Immature Red-tailed Hawks seem to have more and narrower bars.
So the photographers were correct: this particular bird was a young Cooper’s Hawk. The large size must have been a trick of they eye. I’m sure the bird was also fluffed up as it was a cold afternoon.
The Fun Part of Photos
One nice thing about taking photos of these birds is that I can look at them closely later. While zooming in on the tail feathers, I also noticed the streaks on the birds sides are shaped a lot like very long-tailed toad tadpoles. If I get a chance to take a similar photo of a Red-tailed some day, I will enjoy inspecting the shape of its streaks.
Maybe next time it will be the Red-tailed I see at LaSalle! Every visit is a new adventure.
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