It is certainly fun to spot a Cooper’s Hawk along the lakeshore, for I only get to see it about once a year. This is a raptor that mainly preys upon smaller birds.
Yet, there is something rather odd about my sightings: I have only ever seen immature Cooper’s Hawks. Where are the adults?
A immature Cooper’s Hawk sits atop a utility pole.
“Quit watching me while I practice my dance routines.”
those descending brown dashes like falling leaves
Dirk was always on the lookout for these beauties when he had chickens!
Where are the adults? Excellent question! We see more Coops on the coast, but there seems to be overwhelmingly more youngsters than adults. I have long wondered why but have no answer.
I think the answer may lie in the simple tactic of stealth, practiced diligently by adults and not yet learned as a necessity by juveniles. As I’ve observed in my own yard in the past, you know that an adult Coopers Hawk has been well camouflaged and virtually undetectable when you find one hunkered close to the trunk of a tree watching over a veritable smorgasbord of various Passerines, feeding and frolicking near the various feeders in the yard, below and all around it.
We all know how they can scatter and disappear when any of the accipiter family are once seen.
Bill, I suspect you have the correct answer. Indeed Paul Prappas speculated much the same thing. Clearly, I have to be more perceptive to spot an adult.