As I was taking my dogs out this morning I had a hawk sitting on fallen branches in my backyard. He flew off but I managed to get a few pictures on my iPhone of him. When I got in and looked at the pictures they were only barley good enough to identify him. I didn't think much more about it until I took the dogs out later and he was back again. I hurriedly took the dogs back in and grabbed my camera and back out again I went.
Here for you is the Cooper's Hawk, he is a beauty for sure. They are a medium sized hawk, and have long rounded tail with several black bands, which is how they are easily identified from the Sharp-Shinned Hawk. >They measure about 14-20 inches (36-50 cm) with a 2 1/2 foot wing span. Rusty breast and dark wing tips, slate gray back. Bright yellow spot at base of gray bill , dark red eyes.>
The Cooper's Hawk is a common hawk, when in flight look for the large head and short wings and long tail. They are known to ambush their prey, it will fly into heavy bush and will even run on the ground to pursue their prey. They also love to come to feeders to hunt their prey.
Cooper's Hawk is bold and beautiful, he is not afraid of flying through the trees and dense branches for his dinner. He apparently is not afraid of me either as he stayed and posed for his photo shoot today.
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*all information was taken from "Birds of Missouri Field Guide" by Stan Tekiela
All photo's were taken by me with my Cannon EOS T2i rebel