Cooper's Hawk

Large Raptor Birds
Part 9

Cooper's Hawk

 

 

 This is the cooper's hawk. It is a medium sized hawk native to North American continent and found from southern Canada to northern Mexico. Like almost all raptors the male is smaller than the female.

 

The wingspan of a cooper's hawk is 62 to 94cm (24-37cm.)  Their average weight is 12-18oz for females and 16oz on average for the male cooper's hawk.  Sizes can vary from 14 to 20 inches long.

 

 

 

 

Cooper's hawk nests can be found in tops of trees.  Over a 2 week period of time a nest will reach 27 inches in diameter.  Surprisingly the pile of sticks is sometimes concealed very well and often can be mistaken for another critters nest. 

 

 

In each nest you will find 3-5 eggs. 

The clutch will hatch in 30-36 days.

 

 Chicks become independent around 8 weeks.  

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This hawk has been known to live 12 years in the wild; however, the oldest living hawk was recorded at 20 years and 4 months.

 Cooper's Hawk is another one of my favorite hawks.  They are fascinating to watch in flight and when they are soaring over fields or streams looking for their next hunt.
 

Here is our Web Cam Page for Links to view this bird.
Raptor Cams



Other Birds
Peregrine Falcon
Red Tailed Hawk
Broad- Winged Hawk
Bald Eagle
Northern Harrier
Sparrow Hawk
Swainson's Hawk

Swainson's Hawk

Large Raptor Birds
Part 7

Swainson's Hawk

 

 

Named after William Swainson, this large hawk can be found along prairies and grasslands.

 

The Swainson's hawk can cover 15,000 miles (24,000km) during its migrations north.

A common color pattern for the adult hawk is dark brown plumage with a brown chest and a pale belly.

 

The nests of a swainson's hawk can contain 1-4 eggs that incubate from 34-35 days.

 

 

Other Birds
Peregrine Falcon
Red Tailed Hawk
Broad- Winged Hawk
Bald Eagle
Northern Harrier
Sparrow Hawk
Swainson's Hawk

Sparrow Hawk

Large Raptor Birds
Part 6

 

The Sparrow Hawk

 

The sparrow hawk is also called the American kestrel. This little raptor is a falcon. 

 

 

 

The diet of a sparrow hawk consists of grasshoppers, lizards, mice, and small birds.

 The male sparrow hawk is no smaller than a robin.

 

This American Kestrel nests in trees, cavities of rocks, cliffs and/or caves.  Laying 3-7 eggs per nest, both male and female help incubate the eggs.  This bird extends all across North America and can be seen migrating south during winter seasons.  This falcon is a wonderful site to see.

 

 

 

 

 

Other Birds
Peregrine Falcon
Red Tailed Hawk
Broad- Winged Hawk
Bald Eagle
Northern Harrier
Sparrow Hawk
Swainson's Hawk

The Northern Harrier

Large Raptor Birds
Part 5

The Northern Harrier

 

The northern harrier forms a low V shaped flight hunting pattern as they search like other harriers for small mammals to eat.  Northern harriers rarely live to be 8 years old due to other predators.

 

 

Northern harriers are more likely to be seen and remain in heavy forested areas.  The nests are preferred to be constructed of sticks filled with 4-8 whitish eggs then hatch in approximately 31 days.  This is the only hawk that practices polygamy.

The Northern Harrier is also called the marsh hawk. It migrates to the southern parts of America. The marsh hawk is 41-52cm (16-20in) long.

 

Here is our Web Cam Page for Links to view this bird.
Raptor Cams

Red Tailed Hawk

Large Raptor Birds

Part 2

The Red Tailed Hawk

 

The most common hawk in North America is the red tailed hawk.  Throughout all the seasons you can see this hawk from anywhere in North America.  The red tailed hawk can be found on telephone poles, tops of trees, large cliff tops, along marshy areas and on the edge of open fields. 

 

The red tailed hawk will eat: rabbits, mice, voles, and any other food source they may find. (Like road kill.)

Being monogamous (having the same mate for life), the red tailed hawk will lay 1-5 eggs per year and often in the same nest used the year prior if safe.
 

The red tailed hawk has a large and beautiful wing span as you can see below.

 

 

 Click HERE to hear the different sounds of a red tailed hawk.

Buteo (red tailed hawk) is one neat raptor buzzard!

And that's what I learned about the red tailed hawk.

 

 

 

Here is our Web Cam Page for Links to view this bird.
Raptor Cams

Other Birds
Peregrine Falcon
Red Tailed Hawk
Broad- Winged Hawk
Bald Eagle
Northern Harrier
Sparrow Hawk
Swainson's Hawk

Peregrine Falcon

Larger Raptor Birds

Part 1

The Peregrine Falcon

"The duck hawk"

 

 The peregrine falcon is the fastest bird in the world.  They fly up to( 200mph when stooping.  There normal flight speed is 389km/h(242mph).

Peregrine falcon actually means wandering falcon.

 

This is a crow-sized falcon  

They will eat any medium sized prey.  For example: they like seagulls, other birds, rabbits, even mice and voles if they are hungry.  This falcon has a distinct face and mustache to help identify him/her.  When young they are more brown with heavy streaks.

There wingspan is 74-120cm long.

 

They cry is "we'chew we'chew" or "kek kek kek kek".

 

The peregrine falcon loves the open country and skies.  The can be found along forests or even cities.  Peregrine falcons can be found on every continent but Antarctica.  In North America however, this once endangered species has made a recovery due to better research on contaminated prey caused from pesticides and chemicals in fields during the 1940-50's.  There are currently about 2,000-3,000 nesting pairs in North America. 

 

 Peregrine Falcons work together to take care of their young...

 

They build their nests in the trees...

 

the rocks...

 

cliff tops...

and cliff ledges.

 

 

And sometimes even in little holes in the cliffs.

They lay on average two eggs a year. (Note* 1-4)

 

A peregrine falcon will scrape an indentation with its talons in the earth for each egg. Nests can be found cliff walls, caves and in northern Alaska make a nest on the ground with sticks and other bedding earth material.  This truly has been an amazing bird to study and is my favorite bird on the planet.

 

 

 

***Mom Notes***

HERE is a free printable coloring page or there is also THIS one of the Peregine Falcon.

Here is our Web Cam Page for Links to view this bird.
Raptor Cams

Other Birds

Peregrine Falcon

Red Tailed Hawk

Broad- Winged Hawk

Bald Eagle

Northern Harrier

Sparrow Hawk

Swainson's Hawk