A Cooper’s Hawk pair have chosen to nest in one of our mesquite trees!
Cooper’s Hawks (Accipiter cooperii) are found throughout most of the United States. They are common in the Arizona desert year round. A day rarely goes by that I don’t see one on or near our property in Tucson.
They are a medium sized hawk with a smallish curved beak. Adults have and red/orange barred breast while a juveniles breast will have brown streaking.
I watched one Cooper’s Hawk attempt to take a rabbit but they usually pursue smaller prey with birds being the preferred meal. Mourning doves, quail, and house finches seem to be at the top of the list at our house.
The pair currently nesting in our mesquite tree actually started their courtship last summer. I was surprised by the male when he landed on the ground about ten feet away, picked up a small branch, then flew to the top of a tree where he wedged it into a fork where a branch and the trunk intersected. I stood quietly and watched him repeat the process about a half dozen times. The female watched from a tall pine tree in our neighbor’s yard. The nest building stopped, then the pair of hawks took to entertaining us with high speed low level tandem flight through and around the trees on our property as they continued their courtship.
The nest building resumed about a month ago. The nest is now occupied by a bird most of the time and I believe it’s safe to assume there are now eggs in the nest.