The Cooper’s Hawk (Accipiter cooperii) is a medium-sized raptor recognized for its agility and secretive hunting style within forested areas. Once primarily associated with remote woodlands, this swift predator has shown an increasing ability to adapt and thrive in landscapes heavily influenced by human development. Understanding where the Cooper’s Hawk chooses to raise its young offers insight into its successful adaptation. Nest site selection is guided by specific environmental criteria, ensuring the protection and survival of its annual brood.
Preferred Nesting Habitats
Cooper’s Hawks historically favor dense, mature woodlands, including deciduous, coniferous, or mixed forests that offer significant vertical structure and protective canopy cover. These areas naturally provide the necessary concealment from potential predators and offer an ideal environment for the hawk’s preferred hunting technique of swift pursuit through trees. Riparian zones, which are wooded areas near streams or rivers, are also frequently selected due to the reliable presence of water and prey species.
In recent decades, however, the species has successfully colonized urban and suburban environments across North America, demonstrating an impressive tolerance for human activity. Hawks now commonly establish nests in city parks, quiet residential neighborhoods, and even cemeteries, provided there are sufficient numbers of tall, mature trees. These urban areas often supply a concentrated and reliable food source, particularly birds like pigeons and starlings, which may contribute to the successful raising of young. Nesting success in urban settings can even exceed that in some natural areas. The presence of a dense upper canopy remains a consistent requirement, allowing the nest to be hidden from above.
Specific Nest Placement and Construction
Within the chosen habitat, the hawk selects a specific tree that is typically one of the tallest and most robust available, often a large oak, pine, or spruce. The nest is usually placed high above the ground, generally ranging from 25 to 50 feet, or about two-thirds of the way up the tree’s height. This elevated position provides a commanding view while maintaining cover. The precise location is often in a major vertical crotch near the main trunk or on a large horizontal branch where it meets the trunk, securing the structure against wind and providing support.
The male hawk typically initiates and does most of the nest construction over a period of about two weeks, using sticks to form a bulky platform measuring approximately 24 to 28 inches in diameter. The pair then lines the cup-shaped depression in the center with softer materials, such as bark flakes, pine needles, or fresh green foliage. Although the pair sometimes builds a new nest, they frequently reuse an old platform from previous seasons or appropriate and rebuild abandoned nests originally constructed by other large birds or squirrels.
The Cooper’s Hawk Nesting Timeline
The breeding season begins in late winter or early spring with courtship displays, which include aerial maneuvers and the male feeding the female. Nest building usually concludes by early spring, with eggs typically laid between March and mid-May, depending on the latitude of the nesting territory. Females lay a clutch of three to five pale bluish-white eggs, usually at intervals of two or three days.
Incubation, performed mostly by the female, lasts approximately 30 to 36 days, beginning after the third egg is laid to ensure simultaneous hatching. Once the young hatch, the female remains on the nest to brood them for the first two weeks while the male delivers all the food. The nestlings remain in the nest for about four to five weeks before they begin to fledge. After leaving the nest, the young hawks remain dependent on their parents for food and care for several more weeks before they become fully independent by mid-to-late summer.