page_title: Cooper's hawk
section_title: Current status
hierarchical_section_title: Cooper's hawk / Status and conservation / Current status
caption_attribution_description: Accipiter cooperii Tucson, AZ
context_page_description: Cooper's hawk is a medium-sized hawk native to the North American continent and found from southern Canada to Mexico. This species is a member of the genus Accipiter, sometimes referred to as true hawks, which are famously agile, relatively small hawks common to wooded habitats around the world and also the most diverse of all diurnal raptor genera. As in many birds of prey, the male is smaller than the female. The birds found east of the Mississippi River tend to be larger on average than the birds found to the west. It is easily confused with the smaller but similar Sharp-shinned hawk.
  The species was named in 1828 by Charles Lucien Bonaparte in honor of his friend and fellow ornithologist, William Cooper. Other common names for the Cooper's hawk include: big blue darter, chicken hawk, flying cross, hen hawk, quail hawk, striker, and swift hawk. Many of the names applied to the Cooper's hawks refer to their ability to hunt large and evasive prey using extremely well-developed agility. This species primarily hunts small-to-medium sized birds, but will also commonly take small mammals and sometimes reptiles.
context_section_description: In the 1990s, it was estimated that the Cooper's hawks may number “well into six figures” due to their regular distribution over 8 million square kilometers. Today, the Cooper's hawk is thought to number around 800,000 in the United States and Canada. These estimates were gained cross-referencing the number of hectares per active nest, which was in the range of 101 to 2,326 ha (250 to 5,750 acres) in the western states and 272 to 5,000 ha (670 to 12,360 acres) in the Midwestern and eastern states, as well as data from Christmas Bird Counts and migration counts. Evidence from long-time migration counts at Bake Oven Knob show slight peaks at intervals of 3 to 4 years, however no dramatic declines have been detected since the 1980s. Following their historic decline, Breeding Bird Surveys have tracked strong increases of the breeding population (upward trends from 1.2% in California to 4.4% in Pennsylvania) in six states, with a 2.2% increase overall, and similar trends in multiple other states. In many states (Arizona, California, Florida, Missouri, New Mexico and North Dakota) the numbers are probably similar or greater to those prior to 1945. It is thought that the population of Cooper's hawks in Wisconsin is nearly saturated relative to the landmass of the state, after a rough 25-fold increase since the late 1970s. Based largely on data from well-known populations such as Tucson and Milwaukee, some authors opine that the Cooper's hawk may be the most common raptor in American urban areas today, although surely other common raptorial birds such as red-tailed  hawks, American kestrels and turkey vultures (Cathartes aura) may easily rival them in this regard.
caption: A Cooper's hawk of the ample Tucson population. Despite the large population, some authors fear this population may represent an ecological trap.
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon PowerShot SX10 IS", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "180", "Image YResolution": "180", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS2 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2009:11:02 08:23:57", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "272", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1194", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "8368", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/400", "EXIF FNumber": "57/10", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "200", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2009:11:03 08:11:09", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2009:11:03 08:11:09", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "3", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "277/32", "EXIF ApertureValue": "161/32", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "161/32", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "100", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "480", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "600", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "Interoperability RelatedImageWidth": "3648", "Interoperability RelatedImageLength": "2736", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "1044", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "3648000/241", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "2736000/181", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}