More hawks outside the kitchen

I was eating breakfast with my wife early this morning when she looked out the window and exclaimed, "Look, one of your red-tails came to visit". The blinds were blocking my view so I walked to the window and looked across the courtyard to the TV antenna where the raptors usually perch. I was surprised to see that it wasn't a Red-tailed Hawk, but a huge Cooper's Hawk. It was the first time that we've seen this hawk of the forest outside our window. My wife, understandably misidentified the bird as it was nearly the size of a Red-tailed Hawk.

For a size comparison, at the bottom of this posting is a photo of a red-tail on the same perch taken last year. Because the two birds are so close in size I would presume that the Red-tailed Hawk was a male and that the Cooper's Hawk was a female. I normally don't see individuals of those two species so close in size. In terms of weight, Red-tailed Hawks are, generally, a much heftier bird. Hopefully, she'll help thin out a flock of pigeons that someone has been feeding between the buildings.

by Rob Jett for "The City Birder"