Cooper's Hawk (Accipiter cooperii)


Group	Vultures, Eagles, Hawks, and Falcons
Code	ABNKC12040
Order	Falconiformes
Family	Accipitridae
Author	(Bonaparte, 1828)
Rank	G5 (definitions)
Occurrence	SM (definitions)
Scale	C (definitions)

County List:


Western UP	Marquette, Ontonagon, Keweenaw, Houghton, Iron, Gogebic, Dickinson, Delta
Eastern UP	all
Northern LP	Mason, Lake, Missaukee, Manistee, Mecosta, Osceola, Midland, Gladwin, Ogemaw, Newaygo, Roscommon, Otsego, Oscoda, Oceana, Grand Traverse, Cheboygan, Benzie, Clare, Wexford, Alcona, Alpena, Antrim, Arenac, Bay, Kalkaska, Isabella, Iosco, Emmet, Crawford
Southern LP	all

Rule:

Mixed Forested/Nonforested Landscapes

Nesting and Foraging Habitat are distributed over the COMPARTMENT

Nesting Habitat:
      (Any Upland Deciduous (Sm Saw or Lg Saw or Uneven)) 
      or (Any Upland Mixed (Sm Saw or Lg Saw or Uneven))
      or (Any Lowland Deciduous (Sm Saw or Lg Saw or Uneven)) 

Foraging Habitat:
      (Any Upland Deciduous (Regen))
      or Grass 
      or Upland Brush
      or Field/Pasture

view decision rule term definitions

Habitat List:

Habitats	Regen	Sap	Pole	Sm Saw	Lg Saw	Uneven
Aspen	YES	no	no	YES	YES	-
Paper Birch	YES	no	no	YES	YES	-
Oak	YES	no	no	YES	YES	YES
Assorted Hardwoods	YES	no	no	YES	YES	YES
Northern Hardwoods	YES	no	no	YES	YES	YES
Spruce/Fir	no	no	no	no	no	no
Hemlock	no	no	no	no	no	no
Jack Pine	no	no	no	no	no	no
Red Pine	no	no	no	no	no	no
White Pine	no	no	no	no	no	no
Conifer Plantations	no	no	no	no	no	-
Mixed Upland Hardwoods	no	no	no	YES	YES	YES
Mixed Northern Hardwoods	no	no	no	YES	YES	YES
Mixed Upland Conifer	no	no	no	YES	YES	YES
Mixed Pine	no	no	no	YES	YES	YES
Swamp Hardwoods	no	no	no	YES	YES	YES
Balsam Poplar & Swamp Aspen & Swamp Birch	no	no	no	YES	YES	YES
Bottomland Hardwoods	no	no	no	YES	YES	YES
Tamarack	no	no	no	no	no	no
Northern White Cedar	no	no	no	no	no	no
Black Spruce	no	no	no	no	no	no
Mixed Lowland Hardwoods	no	no	no	no	no	no
Mixed Lowland Conifer	no	no	no	no	no	no
Non-Forested	Grass, Upland Brush, Fields/Pastures
Special Features	Edges

view size class definitions

Literature:

Betz, M. R. 1991. Cooper's Hawk. Pages 166-167 In: R. Brewer, G. A. McPeek, and R. J. Adams, Jr. (eds.) The atlas of breeding birds of Michigan. Michigan State University Press, East Lansing. 594 pp.

Habitat: A relatively undisturbed forest, often associated with a field or scrub area, seems to be the preferred habitat for the Cooper's Hawk in Michigan. Bent reported that the Cooper's Hawk prefers nesting in white pine groves. Eight of the 11 Atlas Habitat Survey records were in dry or mesic deciduous or mixed forests.

Barrows (1912) and Pettingill (1974) reported this hawk nesting in a variety of tree species, coniferous and deciduous.

DeGraaf, R. M. and D. D. Rudis. 1986. New England wildlife: habitat, natural history, and distribution. GTR NE-108. Broomall, PA:USDA, Forest Service, Northeastern Forest Experiment Station. 491 pp.

Habitat: Breeding: Extensive deciduous or mixed woodlands that are dense or open, scattered woodlots interspersed with open fields. Occupies similar forest niche as sharp-shinned hawk but has broaden its habitat by moving into more open agricultural areas. Floodplain forests and wooded swamps. Wintering: Similar to breeding.

Kaufman, K. 1996. Lives of North American Birds. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, Massachusetts. 675 pp.

Habitat: Mature forests, open woodlands, wood edges, river groves. Nests in coniferous, deciduous, and mixed woods, typically those with tall trees and with openings or edge habitat nearby. Also found in trees along rivers through open country, and increasingly in suburbs and cities where some tall trees exist for nest sites. In winter, may be in fairly open country, especially in west.

Diet: Mostly birds and small mammals. Feeds mainly on medium-sized birds, in the size range of robins, jays, flickers, also on larger and smaller birds. Also eats many small mammals, such as chipmunks, tree squirrels, ground squirrels, mice, bats. Sometimes eats reptiles and insects.

Nest: Site is in tree, either deciduous or coniferous, usually 25-50 feet above ground. Often placed on top of some preexisting foundation, such as old nest of large bird or squirrel, or clump of mistletoe. Nest is a bulky structure of sticks, lined with softer material such as strips of bark.