Cooper’s Hawk

(Accipiter cooperii)

Conservation Status
IUCN Red List

LC - Least Concern

NatureServe

N5B, N5N - Secure Breeding and Nonbreeding

SNRB, SNRN - Unranked Breeding and Nonbreeding

Minnesota

not listed

 
Cooper’s Hawk
Photo by Kim Harcey
 
Description

Cooper’s Hawk is a medium-sized hawk. The cap and upper parts are bluish-gray. The nape of the neck is pale. The underparts are white with thin, horizontal, reddish-brown barring. Immature individuals are brown above with dark brown, vertical streaks on the breast and belly. The tail is relatively long and rounded at the end with a broad terminal band. It is bluish-gray above with black bars, pale below with dark bars.

 

Size

Male:

15″ to 17″ in length

27″ to 32″wingspan

Female:

17″ to 19″ in length

32″ to 37″wingspan

 

Voice

Adult call
A loud cak-cak-cak-cak-cak lasting 2 to 5 seconds. When delivering food to the nest or receiving food at the nest the female makes a descending whaa call.

 

Juvenile call

 

Similar Species

Sharp-shinned Hawk (Accipiter striatus) is smaller, no more than 12″ in length. The nape of the neck is dark. The tail is shorter, more square, and has a narrower white terminal band.

Habitat

Riparian and mixed woodlands and woodlots; suburban yards with bird feeders

Ecology

Migration

Late March to mid-May and mid-August through November

 

Nesting

 

 

Food

Songbirds, squirrels, and chipmunks

Distribution

Occurrence

Uncommon migrant, local breeder

 

Maps

The Minnesota Ornithologists’ Union All Seasons Species Occurrence Map

Taxonomy

Class

Aves (birds)

Order

Accipitriformes (hawks, eagles, kites, and allies)

Family

Accipitridae (hawks, eagles, and kites)

Subfamily

Accipitrinae (typical hawks and harriers)

Genus

Accipiter (accipiters) / Astur (true goshawks and allies)

   

Genus
Cooper’s Hawk was formerly placed in the genus Accipiter, which contained about 50 species. Recent molecular DNA studies showed that the genus contained members with different evolutionary ancestors – it was polyphyletic. A DNA study of the Family Accipitridae (Catanach et al., 2024) confirmed that the genus Accipiter was polyphyletic, and proposed a revision of the family so that all species were in monophyletic groups. Most Accipiter species were moved to five new or resurrected genera. Nine species, including Cooper’s Hawk and American Goshawk, were moved to the resurrected genus Astur.

The revision has been widely but not universally accepted. For Cooper’s Hawk, Avibase - The World Bird Database, Cornell Lab of Ornithology Birds of the World, iNaturalist, and International Ornithological Congress (IOC) World Bird List use the name Astur cooperii. American Ornithological Society (AOS), Catalog of Life, ITIS, NatureServe, and NCBI use the name Accipiter cooperii. The AOS is the governing authority for bird names in North America. Since they have not yet adopted the revision, the official scientific name of Cooper’s Hawk in North America remains Accipiter cooperii. That may soon change.

   

Subordinate Taxa

 

   

Synonyms

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Visitor Photos
 

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Gregory Gilman

Cooper’s Hawk

The Cooper's Hawk
Check out this visitor to our neighbor's porch today.

Kim Harcey

Cooper’s Hawk   Cooper’s Hawk
     
Cooper’s Hawk    

Andrea Berger

Cooper’s Hawk   Cooper’s Hawk

Molly and Robert Power

Cooper’s Hawk

First time seeing one on our game cam!

Bonnie Shoebottom

Cooper’s Hawk

two days in a row on deck railing

Norm & Peg Dibble

Cooper’s Hawk

Here’s a Cooper’s Hawk, October 8, 2014, a frequent visitor to our yard looking for small birds.

Gerry Garcia

Cooper’s Hawk   Cooper’s Hawk

Ida Marie

Cooper’s Hawk

… I photographed him about 1 block off of the Mississippi River last night July 29th, 2016 …

MinnesotaSeasons.com Photos

A Cooper’s Hawk staking out a bird feeder in a suburban back yard.

Cooper’s Hawk   Cooper’s Hawk

 

Camera

 

Slideshows

Cooper's Hawk
Allen Chartier

Cooper's Hawk

Cooper's Hawk
Andy Reago & Chrissy McClarren

Cooper's Hawk

Cooper's Hawk
JMC Nature Photos

Cooper's Hawk

 

slideshow

Visitor Videos
 

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Kim Harcey

Coopers Hawk 01
Jun 22, 2023

About

Cooper’s Hawk (Accipiter cooperii)
Cambridge, MN
6/22/2023
Photo by Kim Harcey
http://www.minnesotaseasons.com/Birds/Coopers_Hawk.html

Other Videos

Cooper's Hawk (Accipitridae: Accipiter cooperii) Trapping with Decoy Owl and Mistnet
Carl Barrentine

About

Uploaded on Jun 28, 2009

Female Cooper's Hawk photographed at Grand Forks, North Dakota (28 June 2009). Banded by Tim Driscoll and Tom Perry.

Cooper's Hawk (Accipiter cooperii) "Whaa" call
Denise Wight

About

Published on Dec 23, 2015

An adult Cooper's Hawk (CAHA) giving the "whaa" call, from a leafless valley oak near Diablo Foothills Regional Park, Walnut Creek, California, 23 December 2015. This hawk was responding to another bird, which we did not see, making the same call from deep in a live oak about 100 feet away. I have only heard this call during the breeding season near COHAs' nests. The Birds of North America states that this call is "primarily given by females".

Cooper's Hawk (Accipitridae: Accipiter cooperii) Male
Carl Barrentine

About

Uploaded on Jul 4, 2009

Photographed at Grand Forks, North Dakota (04 July 2009). "This morning / the hawk / rose up / out of the meadow's browse / and swung over the lake-- / .... / and I said: remember / this is not something / of the red fire, this is / heaven's fistful / of death and destruction..." --Mary Oliver

The Cooper's Hawk (Accipitridae: Accipiter cooperii)
Carl Barrentine

About

Uploaded on Dec 31, 2009

A brief but contemplative look at the Cooper's Hawk, which is a common breeding resident of forests, shelterbelts, and treed suburban residential areas in the upper midwest United States, Specimens shown here were photographed in North Dakota. SHOW MORE

Cooper's Hawk - Épervier de Cooper - Azor de Cooper - Accipiter cooperii
elgalopinos

About

Uploaded on Feb 1, 2011

Montreal botanical garden - Jardin Botanique de Montreal
Quebec, Canada

 

Camcorder

Visitor Sightings
 

Report a sighting of this bird.

 

This button not working for you?
Simply email us at info@MinnesotaSeasons.com.
Be sure to include a location.

Gregory Gilman
2/9/2025

Location: Rochester, MN 55901

Check out this visitor to our neighbor's porch today.

Cooper’s Hawk
Kim Harcey
5/1/2023

Location: Cambridge, MN

Cooper’s Hawk

Kim Harcey
4/16/2023

Location: Cambridge, MN

Cooper’s Hawk

Ellen
1/18/2023

Location: Shieldsville, MN

Andrea Berger
12/28/2022

Location: Golden Valley, MN

Cooper’s Hawk

Molly and Robert Power
4/9/2021

Location: Albany MN

First time seeing one on our game cam!

Cooper’s Hawk

Bonnie Shoebottom
10/15/2019

Location: Centerville, Minnesota

two days in a row on deck railing

Cooper’s Hawk

Gerry Garcia
4/18/2019

Location: West Bloomington, MN

Cooper’s Hawk

Ida Marie
7/29/2016

Location: Ramsey, MN

… I photographed him about 1 block off of the Mississippi River last night …

Cooper’s Hawk

Norm & Peg Dibble
10/8/2014

Location: Maple Grove, MN

Here’s a Cooper’s Hawk, October 8, 2014, a frequent visitor to our yard looking for small birds.

Cooper’s Hawk

MinnesotaSeasons.com Sightings

Burnsville, MN

Des Moines River SNA

Lakeville, MN

Tamarack Nature Center

 

 

Binoculars

 

Created: 4/29/2016

Last Updated:

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