Cooper's Hawk

The Cooper's Hawk is a medium-sized, agile forest hawk known for its remarkable acrobatic flight through dense trees. It features rounded wings, a long, rounded tail with dark bands, and striking red-orange eyes in adults. This tail feather exhibits the classic bold banding pattern that helps the bird steer and brake during high-speed aerial pursuits of other birds.

Alternating wide dark charcoal-gray or blackish bands with lighter grayish-white or bluish-gray bands across the vane, featuring a distinct white tip

Tightly interlocked pennaceous structure with well-developed barbicels creating a strong, durable vane; intact condition with minimal fraying

Smooth, firm, and matte in appearance, offering good rigidity to withstand air resistance during agile forest flights

Distinctive broad dark and light gray transverse bands across the feather vane ending in a crisp white tip, paired with a sturdy white rachis characteristic of Accipiter tail feathers

Deciduous, mixed, and coniferous forests, as well as woodlots, river groves, and increasingly suburban and urban neighborhoods

Widely distributed throughout North America, breeding from southern Canada down through the United States and into Mexico

Acts as an apex avian predator in woodland and suburban ecosystems, helping regulate populations of medium-sized birds and small mammals

Sharp-shinned Hawk (Accipiter striatus) and Northern Goshawk (Accipiter gentilis); Sharp-shinned tail feathers are typically smaller with a squarer tip, while Goshawk feathers are considerably larger

Cooper's Hawks are exceptional aerial hunters capable of navigating dense forest canopies at high speeds, sometimes flying directly through thick brush to ambush prey

Good condition with a clean shaft, intact barbs, and only minor natural wear at the very edge of the tip