Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire For Bird Guys: What is this hawk?

Here's a not very old Coopers from my back fence. He keeps the dove numbers in check. His eyes would be dark red or orange if he was fully mature.

It’s as bad as you think it is, this from the American Ornithological Society (AOS) which has jurisdiction over these things…

https://americanornithology.org/about/english-bird-names-project/

AOS President Colleen Handel, Ph.D., said: “There is power in a name, and some English bird names have associations with the past that continue to be exclusionary and harmful today. We need a much more inclusive and engaging scientific process that focuses attention on the unique features and beauty of the birds themselves. Everyone who loves and cares about birds should be able to enjoy and study them freely—and birds need our help now more than ever.”

AOS Executive Director and CEO Judith Scarl, Ph.D., said: “As scientists, we work to eliminate bias in science. But there has been historic bias in how birds are named, and who might have a bird named in their honor. Exclusionary naming conventions developed in the 1800s, clouded by racism and misogyny, don’t work for us today, and the time has come for us to transform this process and redirect the focus to the birds, where it belongs. I am proud to be part of this new vision and am excited to work in partnership with a broad array of experts and bird lovers in creating an inclusive naming structure.”

AOS President and Executive Director and CEO…….Colleen and Judith. That’s all you need to know. 🤬

Eye color in Coopers, lifted from Cornell’ Birds of the World website. In Coopers takes about five years, in sharpies only three. It’s a tough world out there. Most of either species don’t make it that far so this red color is assumed to function in mate selection, red eyes giving an advantage.

I’m jealous! The only scar I got were from an appendectomy

I would have guessed Cooper's too.

Very cool birds.

I’d imagine that a lot of them die from hunting related injuries. I’ve watched several crash into shrubs kamikaze style while in pursuit of sparrows or house finches.

Looks like a Sharp Shinned tail ; yellowish redish eye

Great postings guys! Learn something most days around here.

Speaking of cooper's hawks....I see them all the time near my house.

Just yesterday I saw the two of most interesting maneuvers they do. One flew into a tree's thick cover at full speed to try and get a songbird. He pulled in his wings at the last moment and just dove in! I once found a dead cooper's that did the same thing and hit a limb or something that killed it.

The other technique is not as common. Doves are in an open field feeding. The cooper's hawk is alternately flapping and gliding 100 yards or more above. It suddenly dives towards the ground while varying its path in fast tight turns which I believe does two things. This allows the bird to get depth perception as it doesn't have binocular vision and it confuses the prey. When close to the doves it will single one out and be in hot pursuit. Occasionally I get to see the kill.

Wish there were more of these around here! Too many Sparrows, Crackles (whatever), Starlings that crap all over the place! Outside of my house, deck and vehicle look like little brown bombs have gone off everywhere!

There is no way an accipiter could hunt without binocular vision.

Agreed sitka deer you are correct.

I should have said there is a conflict with maximum visual acuity and clear binocular vision when a bird dives on its prey. They cannot use their binocular vision alone when diving on prey.

I observe raptors often. They rotate their body rather than the head as they dive. It is explained here:

"Some raptors – falcons, hawks and eagles in this study – attack their prey from great distances in high-speed dives, and this behavior creates a conflict between aerodynamics and vision: raptors must keep their heads and bodies aligned with the flight direction to minimize drag and reach maximum speed (Tucker, 2000a) but, to see straight ahead with maximum visual acuity (a measure of the ability to discriminate fine details; Riggs, 1965), they must turn their heads 40 ° sideways to point the line of sight (LOS) of one eye in the flight direction (Tucker, 2000b). In theory, raptors could resolve this conflict by aligning their heads and bodies with the flight direction and flying along a curved path that keeps the LOS for maximum visual acuity pointed sideways at the prey. Even though the curved path is longer than the straight one, the raptor could probably reach the prey more quickly along the curved path, because the raptor’s speed with its head straight is higher than that with its head sideways (Tucker, 2000b).

A falcon that follows the ideal path begins its approach to the prey from so far away that it can see the prey only with its deep fovea. At some point along the path, the prey is close enough to be seen clearly straight ahead with the less-acute binocular vision, and the falcon leaves the spiral path and flies straight towards the prey. These maneuvers give rise to the spiral and straight segments of the ideal path."

link: https://journals.biologists.com/jeb...rved-flight-paths-and-sideways-vision-in

I saw a video a few years ago that showed how hawks get through vegetation at speed. They had a wall with a softball sized hole in it with a prey animal on one side and a Goshawk (I think?) on the other. When the hawk flew toward the hole, it tucked its wings and went through the hole without missing a beat. Really cool when it was slowed down but almost unbelievable to see at full speed.

I watched a red tailed hawk go after a squirrel in our back yard one afternoon. It swooped in and it looked like it was almost out of control as it was falling/tumbling down the trunk through the branches as the squirrel ran down the tree. Missed.

Sharp-shins in particular from some angles can look as if the eyes are pretty far on the side of the head, after all they are small and subject to predation themselves, but they definitely have binocular vision, when perched they stare directly at potential prey.

I have read that healed fractures to the sternum from impacts are quite common in Cooper’s hawks, I would guess the same is true of sharpies also. How much they are impaired by a fractured sternum immediately after impact I dunno.

Mike, I watched a hawk? hovering while hunting a field out at Leakey.
I figured it was a Harrier Hawk. Their range seems to be way North of here.
What do you think it was?

Northern Harriers, male and female have a very distinct 2-3” white spot on their backs at the base of the tail. Males are grayish and females are brownish. The white spot is the best thing to look for. They’ll usually be cruising along following the contours on the ground.
AKA Marsh Hawk. 😊

As Nav posted, harrier have a prominent white rump patch above the tail, typically hunt low over tall vegetation. Red-tailed hawks come in a variety of shades from black to nearly white, and only the adults have a red tail, they will sometimes hover into a wind while hunting.

If it looked really big, a ferruginous hawk is a possibility.

…and of course the classic hovering bird is the little American kestrel.

Texas is full of hawks from all over North America in winter.