![\"Photo](\"http:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/CoopersHawkFledgedCallingJuly7onNaturalCrooksDotCom_edited-1.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nA sneak preview from July 7 of one of the fledglings calling.<\/em><\/p>\n It may be easier to see in this zoom.<\/p>\n If you are skeptical perhaps this photo from April 20 will be more convincing. When I first arrived, all I could see was a back and tail. The hawk soon started keeping an eye on me, though, so I left.<\/p>\n These photos were all taken from the public footpath. Tempting though it was to go “off trail” I stayed on the proper path. Without the 600 mm lens and a lot of megapixels to crop from I wouldn’t have been able to get photos. (A good point-and-shoot with a 50x zoom would also have worked.)<\/p>\n Even though I didn’t stay watching long on any visit, the parents were always aware of my presence. As you’ll see, I often provided entertainment to the bored incubating parent. So short though my visits were and distant though I was, my activity still stressed the birds. I was also careful not to stop if I thought my interest might encourage someone less interested in the birds’ welfare to try for photos.<\/p>\n I’m not sure when they started incubating the eggs.<\/p>\n I saw no signs of feeding young on my next few visits but lots of signs of incubation.<\/p>\n April 21: Tail up.<\/p>\n Heads up.<\/p>\n April 30: The watcher is watched.<\/p>\n May 9: Still lying low in the nest.<\/p>\n At least I provide something to look at!<\/p>\n May 26: Still watching suspiciously.<\/p>\n According to the Cornell University website<\/strong><\/a>, Cooper’s Hawks usually incubate the eggs for 30-36 days.<\/p>\n Finally, in June, something different!<\/p>\n June 4: The parent is probably feeding a chick. I left quickly in case I might disturb the birds.<\/p>\n Bored and hot!<\/p>\n And one chick already has some “real” feathers coming in!<\/p>\n June 28: I happened to arrive at just the right time to see some action at the nest. Just before I arrived, a parent arrived with food.<\/p>\n The parent then stayed near the nest for a while.<\/p>\n The children watched their parent closely.<\/p>\n Even when the parent moved perches.<\/p>\n The parent was more interested in watching me.<\/p>\n When their parent moved off they started to lose interest.<\/p>\n I was never sure if there were 3 or 4 chicks. The nest is crowded and quite far away from where I was standing.<\/p>\n Here it looks like there are 4 but it could be an illusion.<\/p>\n Allaboutbirds<\/strong><\/a> says they typically have 2 – 6 eggs in a clutch, once a year.<\/p>\n They spent a lot of time watching, hopefully, for a parent to arrive with another meal.<\/p>\n You can see they’ve got quite a few “real” feathers by June 28.<\/p>\n In fact, this one chick spent some time stretching and flapping. His nest mate doesn’t seem impressed with ducking.<\/p>\n Then, on July 7<\/p>\n I was lucky again, and saw this bit of activity.<\/p>\n A parent flew in near the nest but did not bring it’s catch right to the nest. This one called to it.<\/p>\n Then half-climbed and half-flew up.<\/p>\n Then actually flew or glided over a few yards to another perch.<\/p>\n I saw immature Cooper’s Hawks in the Rattray Marsh throughout the rest of the summer and early fall.\u00a0 Hopefully, some of them were these same fledglings all grown up!<\/p>\n Related Reading<\/strong><\/p>\n Join In<\/strong><\/p>\n Have you watched a family of birds grow up? Please share your sighting with a comment.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In the summer of 2016, a pair of Cooper’s Hawks successfully fledged several young from a nest in the Rattray Marsh. I had a glimpse into their lives for a few short weeks. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,11],"tags":[643,314,77,26,40],"class_list":["post-5727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-focus","category-rambles","tag-chicks","tag-coopers-hawk","tag-mississauga","tag-nests","tag-rattray-marsh"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5727"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5727\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5753,"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5727\/revisions\/5753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}First Comes the Coopers’ Nest and Then Hopefully Eggs<\/h2>\n
<\/a>
\nOn April 17, the nest *looks* empty but if you look closely you’ll see one of those “sticks” is a tail.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nPlease Keep Your Distance from Nesting Birds<\/h2>\n
<\/a>You can see I’m being watched.<\/em><\/p>\nHow Long Does It Take for Cooper’s Hawk Eggs to Hatch Into Chicks?<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nSigns of New Life in the Cooper’s Hawks’ Nest!<\/h2>\n
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\nJune 17: There are three chicks at least!<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nFeeding A Nestful of Chicks is Full-time Work for a Cooper’s Hawk<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>It called a few times while perched.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nHow Many Chicks Do Cooper’s Hawks Raise Per Year?<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nHow Quickly Do Cooper’s Hawks Fledge and Leave the Nest?<\/h2>\n
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