This just in!

Two crows are busy harassing the Cooper's Hawk in the field next to our house. They are chattering very noisily and chasing the hawk around. It can't make for easy hunting when Heckle and Jeckle are announcing your presence. It's interesting because they are about the same size, and the crows wouldn't have any young with them at this time of year that they would need to protect. Cooper's Hawks mostly eat other birds. I found this tip online if you see them at the feeders (which Dave saw on Sunday- the hawk was hanging right out by our well and other feeders):
http://www.illinoisraptorcenter.org/Field%20Guide/cooper.html

If a Cooper's Hawk arrives at your feeder, stop bird feeding for a few days and it will move on. Placing bird feeders near shrubs or other cover can also provide protection from predators.

The Hinterland Who's Who site says that the Cooper's likes to eat " larger forest and bushland birds of the mid-latitudes: American Robins, jays, and quail."

and it goes on to describe the Cooper's hunting methods, which we have witnessed many times:

These hawks commonly use two methods of hunting. In one, the hawk hides in a bushy tree and watches for a prospective victim to move away from its cover. Once the prey is spotted, the hawk quietly launches itself into the air, dives straight down for a few metres to pick up air speed, then flattens out and glides straight towards its quarry. As long as the intended victim remains unaware of its approach, the hawk does not beat its wings. But, most prey do detect the gliding hawk and take flight or scurry for cover. At that moment the hawk puts on a tremendous burst of speed to close the gap and makes a strike before the quarry reaches cover.

A more speculative but still effective way of hunting is for the hawk to cruise along the edge of woods, along creeks or rivers, or just below tree-top level in the woods, on the chance of surprising something far enough away from cover to attempt a high-speed dash. The distance the hawk will chase varies somewhat with circumstances, but generally... seldom pursue a quarry for more than 100 m.

Here's an excellent link with more details on the Cooper's Hawk, including a link to the different calls they make etc. In fact, when listening to the different calls, it reminded me of a time in the spring (April/May) when we were sitting out on our deck and a Cooper's flew overhead and was calling. I'm fairly certain the call we heard is the same one categorized under "Food Delivery to Nest" which would make sense as the bird was flying overhead, there didn't seem to be any other bird following it/threatening it and the time of year would be about right. Cool!

I think this bird is quickly becoming one of my favourite regulars here.

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Coopers_Hawk/lifehistory


Here's Cooper's on the back fence- unfortunately the bbq was blocking our shot.