New Life in a Cooper’s Hawk Nest

Back in June, as we walked slowly up a main trail in Foothill Regional Park, a hawk swooped in and perched in an oak directly ahead of us. We ooh-ed and ahh-ed as we excitedly peered through our binoculars at the magnificent bird.
 
As we studied the hawk, we noted its various features: A flat, squared-off head with a conspicuous dark cap; reddish-orange eyes; an orange chest; beefy legs; and a long, banded tail. The hawk’s tail feathers were graduated – with the shorter, outer feathers folded in front of the longer, central feathers. We had ourselves a beautiful adult Cooper’s Hawk! Because it was close, we were also able to get a sense of its relatively large size, indicating it was probably a female.

After a bit of observation, we realized that we were in the midst of not only a gorgeous adult Coop, but also a large nest nearby! And, to top it all off – two fluffy heads poking out!

When encountering nesting birds, it is extremely important to keep the birds’ well-being as top priority. As tempting as it may be to get as close as possible or to observe a nest for a long time, interrupting parental feeding duties or making a parent nervous may jeopardize the young’s welfare. With that priority in mind, we quickly snapped some photos while marveling at our luck in encountering a raptor nest so easily seen from a well-traveled trail.
 
After a few minutes, the adult let out a series of loud calls.

We assumed the calling adult was telling us we were overstaying our welcome. Though Foothill is a well-used spot for hiking and mountain-biking, this obviously didn’t stop the hawk from nesting so close to the trail. However, we didn’t want to put any undue stress on the bird. The fact that we’d stopped on the trail near the nest likely made the adult uneasy after a few minutes. We took the cue and moved on, thanking Mama Coop for her time and parental effort.
 
11 days later, we stopped again at Foothill to check on the nest – which appeared to be empty. As we scanned the surrounding oaks, a beautiful adult flew over the trail and landed nearby.

We wondered aloud where the youngsters were, crossing our fingers they were well. As we continued not 30 feet along the trail, we spotted a very healthy-looking juvenile on a branch!

We were excited to see that at least one of the chicks had made it out of the nest, alive and well. While studying the juvenile, we suddenly heard begging calls from somewhere close, which meant more than one had survived – hooray!

Check out a different begging call below as well.

When we looked again at the nest, we were thrilled to see this second youngster!

Oh! A third juvenile popped up.

But wait – is that a fourth perched directly below the nest? You bet it is! That means four growing youngsters – what a successful brood!

In the birding world, while spring and fall seem to grab the headlines due to nesting activity (spring) and migration movements (spring and fall), it seems that summer often gets overlooked. Sure, as summer progresses, constant singing and conspicuous courtship tapers off – but now we get to appreciate the fruits of parental labor.
 
We find witnessing the creation of a new generation of birds to be incredibly life-affirming, and we relish this time of year!
 
On our first visit, we observed these future predators sitting helplessly in a nest – their only job to eat food delivered directly to them. Our second visit proved their first weeks of life were successful thanks to their parents’ hard work. But, the hard part has really just begun for these juveniles. One study showed that up to 78% of Cooper’s Hawks don’t survive their first year of life (Henny, Charles & Wight, H.M. (1972) Population ecology and environmental pollution: Red-tailed and Cooper’s Hawks).
 
It’s a tough world out there for a hawk, so to see four healthy new ones hatched into the world was cause for much cheer!