The Cooper’s hawk is a medium-sized hawk found throughout most of North America. As an accipiter, the Cooper’s hawk is well-adapted for hunting other birds in forested areas through quick surprise attacks. Understanding a Cooper’s hawk’s favorite foods and hunting strategies can provide useful insights into the ecology of this fascinating raptor.
What do Cooper’s hawks eat?
Cooper’s hawks are opportunistic predators that eat a variety of prey, but small- to medium-sized birds make up the bulk of their diet. Some of the bird species frequently taken by Cooper’s hawks include:
- Mourning doves
- Common grackles
- Blue jays
- American robins
- Northern flickers
- Red-winged blackbirds
- European starlings
- House sparrows
- Chipping sparrows
- Song sparrows
In addition to birds, Cooper’s hawks sometimes prey on small mammals such as chipmunks, rabbits, mice, and squirrels. Occasionally they may also eat amphibians, reptiles, and insects.
Studies of Cooper’s hawk diet have shown regional and seasonal differences in the relative composition of prey species. However, in most areas medium-sized passerines like doves, jays, blackbirds, and sparrows make up the majority of the annual diet.
How do Cooper’s hawks hunt?
As an accipiter hawk, the Cooper’s hawk has short rounded wings and a long rudder-like tail that give it superb maneuverability in dense habitat. This allows the Cooper’s hawk to navigate deftly when pursuing prey through cluttered forests and woodlots.
Cooper’s hawks often hunt by stealth, perching inconspicuously and swooping down on unsuspecting prey. They typically take their prey by surprise with a short chase and rapid attack. Their relatively long legs and toes are equipped with sharp talons that allow them to grasp and kill prey efficiently.
Some specific hunting behaviors seen in Cooper’s hawks include:
- Waiting motionless on a hidden perch until prey ventures near
- Scanning from an open perch then rapidly giving chase when prey spotted
- Flying rapidly through dense habitat hoping to startle prey into the open
- Still-hunting by slowly working through foliage listening for prey movement
Cooper’s hawks often pluck their prey on a perch before consumption. They may cache uneaten food on branches or in dense foliage to feed on later.
Why are small birds the Cooper’s hawk’s primary prey?
There are several key reasons why small- to medium-sized birds are the Cooper’s hawk’s food of choice:
- Abundance – Small songbirds are among the most abundant potential prey for Cooper’s hawks in most habitats.
- Vulnerability – Perching songbirds like sparrows are vulnerable to being ambushed from concealment.
- Maneuverability – The Cooper’s hawk’s aerial agility makes catching nimble songbirds possible.
- Energy content – Small birds provide a readily consumed package of protein and fat.
- Habitat overlap – Cooper’s hawks occupy the same forested habitats favored by many songbirds.
- Skill – Cooper’s hawks become highly effective at capturing avian prey through experience.
The combination of abundant access and specialized hunting skills focused on taking evasive prey like small birds offers the highest potential energy gain for the Cooper’s hawk. This explains their ecological niche as a predator adept at catching avian prey.
How does the Cooper’s hawk’s diet vary seasonally?
The relative availability of different prey species fluctuates throughout the year. This leads to some variation in the Cooper’s hawk’s diet with seasons. Some patterns seen are:
- More insects taken in summer when abundant
- More migratory songbirds preyed on during spring/fall migration
- Higher mammal predation in winter when birds are scarce
- Juveniles may take fewer mammals and more reptiles/amphibians
However, small- to medium-sized resident birds remain the primary prey item in most seasons. The opportunistic Cooper’s hawk appears able to flexibly adjust its diet based on changing seasonal prey availability while maintaining a strong preference for avian prey.
How does the Cooper’s hawk’s hunting success rate compare to other raptors?
Cooper’s hawks are highly effective hunters of avian prey despite the challenge of catching small fast-moving birds. Studies have found success rates of around 30-40% for Cooper’s hawks hunting passerine birds.
This compares favorably to the success rates of other North American accipiter hawks:
Species | Hunting Success Rate |
Cooper’s hawk | 30-40% |
Northern goshawk | 20-30% |
Sharp-shinned hawk | 20-35% |
In contrast, larger Buteo hawks that take more mammals and reptiles have lower hunting success rates:
Species | Hunting Success Rate |
Red-tailed hawk | 20-25% |
Red-shouldered hawk | 15-25% |
Broad-winged hawk | 10-15% |
The Cooper’s hawk’s exceptional aerial capabilities and skill in catching birds leads to it being one of the most successful avian predators among North American raptors. This helps explain why small birds are such an integral part of its diet.
How does habitat loss affect the Cooper’s hawk’s feeding patterns?
As forests and woodlands are fragmented by human infrastructure and development, Cooper’s hawks face shrinking hunting grounds. This appears to be forcing them to broaden their diet in some regions.
Studies have found Cooper’s hawks nesting near human habitation show greater rates of predation on species like:
- House sparrows
- Rock pigeons
- European starlings
- House finches
- Mourning doves
These are birds often found near feeders, farms, and urban areas. As natural habitat is lost, Cooper’s hawks may be shifting to rely more on birds found in human-altered environments.
Urban-dwelling Cooper’s hawks also appear to take more reptiles, amphibians, and mammals near homes and in parks. These behavioral adaptations likely compensate for reduced natural prey availability in fragmented habitats.
How do Cooper’s hawks locate and approach potential prey?
Cooper’s hawks have excellent vision to scan for prey activity while perched or soaring. Their eyes are positioned more towards the front of their heads (compared to other raptors) to enable precise binocular vision. They have additional visual adaptations including:
- Resolving power up to 8 times greater than humans
- Increased density of photoreceptors to improve motion detection
- Ability to see near ultraviolet light to detect UV reflections in feathers
These features allow Cooper’s hawks to effectively spot and track avian prey at a distance. They sometimes use tall perches for broad surveillance of potential hunting zones.
Once prey is sighted, Cooper’s hawks stealthily move closer while using vegetation as visual cover. They get within about 30-50 feet before bursting from cover and accelerating rapidly to strike before prey can react and escape.
How does the Cooper’s hawk subdue and kill avian prey?
The Cooper’s hawk employs its short but powerful talons to inflict mortal injury on prey. The hawk typically grabs prey with one or both feet and squeezes to puncture vital organs.
The Cooper’s hawk’s middle toe is exceptionally long and adapted for dispatching prey efficiently. If needed, the hawk may bite the back of the prey’s neck to sever the spinal cord. Raptors typically crush the cervical vertebrae at the base of the skull to ensure a quick kill.
Smaller prey like sparrows may be subdued immediately. Larger birds like doves can remain alive for a short time after grasps and require the hawk to readjust its grip or use its beak to finish the job before consuming the prey.
How much does a Cooper’s hawk eat per day on average?
The amount of food a Cooper’s hawk eats can vary substantially based on factors like:
- Age – Younger faster-growing birds eat more
- Season – More food needed in colder months
- Breeding status – Increased energy demands when breeding
- Prey size – Larger prey equals greater intake
However, some general estimates for average daily Cooper’s hawk food intake are:
- Non-breeding adult: 2-3 small birds (~50-100g total)
- Breeding adult: 4-6 small birds (100-200g total)
- Growing young: Up to 7-10 small birds (150-300g total)
These approximations demonstrate how the hawk’s food requirements escalate during energetically taxing activities like breeding and raising young. Their small prey is easily consumed to fuel high metabolic rates.
What feeding strategies help the Cooper’s hawk thrive as a predator?
Some key adaptations and behaviors that aid the Cooper’s hawk in securing ample food include:
- Superb low flight maneuverability to chase fleeing prey.
- Short wings enabling high acceleration attacks from cover.
- Long toes and sharp talons for seizing prey.
- Stealth ambush-hunting minimizing energy expenditure.
- Scanning for opportunities from concealed perches.
- Caching extra food using larders for later consumption.
- Learning hunting skills and prey habits through experience.
Additionally, the Cooper’s hawk’s varied diet and habitat tolerance provide dietary flexibility. These traits allow populations to flourish across much of North America.
The species’ robust appetite for small birds drives the evolution of its superb adaptations for avian hunting. In turn, a diverse diet of bird species sustains the Cooper’s hawk and enables effective colonization of new areas.
Conclusion
In summary, the Cooper’s hawk is a specialist predator highly adept at catching small birds. Agile passerines like doves, jays, blackbirds, and sparrows are preferred prey and form the bulk of the Cooper’s hawk’s diet throughout the year.
Specialized hunting adaptations like stealth, speed, and maneuverability in forested environments allow the Cooper’s hawk to consistently locate and capture avian prey. This explains why small birds are the centerpiece of the Cooper’s hawk’s feeding ecology.
Understanding how excellent vision, rapid flight, and other predatory traits help the Cooper’s hawk thrive gives insight into the pressures driving the evolution of anti-predator defenses in their prey species. The dynamics between predator and prey continue to shape populations of both hawks and songbirds across North America.