What Do Cooper Hawks Eat

Here at the wildlife center we usually feed our raptors mice chicks or quail. Their diet also consist of small squirrels mice lizards and insects.

The Azure Gate Cooper S Hawk Story

Coopers hawks diet in the wild mainly consists of medium sized birds and small mammals but may also include insects amphibians and reptiles.

What do cooper hawks eat. The hawk may run along the ground or stoop from flight as a means of capturing prey. They can also eat raccoon sized animals and pets. And occasionally reptiles amphibians insects and even fish.

Occasionally smaller prey like frogs snakes insects. They can dive at a speed of 120 mph and catch a prey with their sharp talons. Many studies have contrasted the diet of the coopers and sharp shinned hawk in other areas as well with the sharp shinned hawk much more regularly selecting birds weighing under about 28 g 099 oz a fair amount overlap in birds of 28 to 40 g 099 to 141 oz and 40 to 75 g 14 to 26 oz weight classes but birds over this weight range are increasingly more often taken almost exclusively by the coopers.

Of the three bird eating accipiter hawks coopers is the mid sized species and the most widespread as a nesting bird south of canada. Coopers hawks are primarily bird hunters and have been known to hang around backyard bird feeders where songbirds gather in tempting numbers. An opportunistic feeder the hawk also hunts for a variety of live prey.

Feeding mostly on birds and small mammals it hunts by stealth approaching its prey through dense cover and then pouncing with a rapid powerful flight. They may also catch bats mice and squirrels and less often even frogs and snakes. Small birds are safer around coopers hawks than medium sized birds.

A coopers hawks favorite meals are. Coopers hawksare primarily fed chicks and quail. A medium sized hawk of the woodlands.

Coopers hawks will feed on many different bird types. Medium sized songbirds robins jays doves. They generally hunt small to medium sized birds including doves quail and woodpeckers.

Hawks eat birds but birders can help their favorite species without harming the food chain with these easy tips to protect birds from hawks. Small mammals mice rats squirrels chipmunks gophers rabbits etc. Studies list european starlings mourning doves and rock pigeons as common targets along with american robins several kinds of jays northern flicker and quail pheasants grouse and chickens.

They flap a lot and do not soar. They will eat small mammals like moles squirrels mice and shrews. Coopers hawks mainly eat birds.

They also eat rabbits grasshoppers small birds ducks bats and fish. Some of these include juncos robins jays and other small birds. Small rodents mice chipmunks squirrels.

File Cooper S Hawk Eating A Finch Jpg Wikimedia Commons