Bird Hawks

 



Bird Hawks, the term seems redundant.  Yet, it isn’t.  A group of hawks are known to hunt and eat mainly birds, hence the term.  They will also take small mammals.  These are the Accipiters.  They typically have long tails and short, rounded wings, adaptations for hunting in wooded areas.  Their eyesight, as with many hawks, is said to be four to eight times better than humans.

Both Sharp Shined and Cooper’s Hawks will take birds from feeders.  I’ve actually seen this when a Sharpie took a Pine Siskin from my feeder after missing an American Goldfinch. 





Pictured above is a juvenile Cooper’s Hawk.  It behaved exactly as one would expect.  It perched for quite some time surveying the area.  Upon launch it swept quickly toward the ground with but a few wing beats, finally gliding less than a foot off the deck to take its prey, a small rodent.