Cooper's Hawks

by Pjlabree, Stamatina, Gwen, Allison, Allene
(Waterdown, Brampton, Ridgeway, Kitchener, Mississauga)

One of our readers said ... last winter I spotter a Cooper's Hawk in my backyard in Waterdown ON. Yesterday I was out and saw him swooping low, dipping below the fence lines, like he was on a roller coaster. He landed about 40' from me, about 15' up in a red maple. I managed to get about 20' away and he took off, again doing the same roller-coaster sort of flight pattern.

Pjlabree from Brampton wrote ... I have been seeing this grey streak hunting my bird feeder. After a little research I believe it's a coopers hawk.. it had something in its talons .. over the years of bird feeding have had red tail hawks an falcons all hunting my feeder through the winter. Morning doves unfortunately are the preferred targets .. Nov. 14-18.. definitely need a better camera

Stamatina from Brampton wrote to say ... I saw a Coopers Hawk on my fence next to my patio door to my house in Brampton Ontario. It did not flinch when I came outside to sit in my hot-tub. I did not see it at first but noticed it when I entered my hot-tub and turned around to see it. It had its back to me but did turn to look at me when I gasped "Oh My God!" It casually flew away to meet its mate. I saw it after circling our neighborhood. I have seen them before but never so close! It was truly magnificent.

Gwen wrote to say ... in August 19, 2019, while walking North Shore Dr, Ridgeway, Ontario, we saw a raptor dive right in front of us down into a row of short shrubs. It was so sudden, we couldn't see it's prey. We waited for a moment or two and then were able to see it fly up to a branch close by for a detailed look. This was at 7 p.m. Just lovely! It was our first!

Allison P from Kitchener wrote ... it flew away just as we pulled out our camera, but it was in our large pine in our backyard, a big blue hawk, which we think was a Cooper's hawk.

Another reader wrote ... this afternoon in the forest, I was up on a ridge looking down a steep, forested slope, he was perched low on a branch about eight feet high, he didn’t know I was behind him! This was Erindale Park.

Allene from Kitchener said ... I saw a Cooper's Hawk in the birch tree in my backyard in Forest Heights in Kitchener, at 3:45pm on February 7th. It has been sitting in the tree for several minutes. We have a small creek and school field behind our house.

Thank you all for telling us about your sightings of Cooper's Hawks.