Big, stately red-tailed hawks and Cooper's hawks are adaptable, common bits of wildness in farmland and suburban areas here in southeastern Pennsylvania, as elsewhere across much of North America. These striking, permanent resident raptors are spotted in those human-made habitats most every day of the year in this area, when one watches for them. Red-tails perch mostly in lone trees in fields and on roadside poles to watch for mice and other rodents in the fields. And they soar, with little flapping, above those same fields to spot prey. Cooper's hawks dash with lots of flapping and gliding through older suburbs with their large trees in their search for birds to eat. Ingesting different prey in diverse habitats lessens competition between these hawks for food, though these hawks overlap each other.
These magnificent hawks became distinct species because their habitats molded them. Red-tails soar a lot on broad wings because of the space above trees and fields that allow them to do so. But Cooper's hawks, originally being birds of forests, developed short, rounded wings for powerful flight and long tails for quick steering at great speed among the trees of a woodland.
Red-tails and Cooper's regularly winter in this area, the former species mostly in farmland and the latter in older suburbs with their tall trees, though these hawk species do overlap each other a bit. And both these raptors winter in my neighborhood.
Little, feathered and furred residents of our lawn are understandably fearful when one of those big birds of prey come into our yard. Much of each day through the year, up to six gray squirrels come to our bird feeders to get food, making themselves vulnerable to attack from red-tails. Occasionally I see a red-tail perched in a tree in our yard at anytime of year, just waiting and watching for a chance to grab an unwary squirrel and fly off with it to consume. Squirrels beware!!!
Once I heard and saw a red-tail scrambling after a fleeing gray squirrel among the trunk and limbs of one tall Norway spruce tree in our back yard. The squirrel got away that time and all his relatives in the neighborhood sounded a "barking" alarm. But another gray squirrel wasn't so lucky because it was caught on the lawn by an alert red-tailed hawk.
Cooper's hawks mostly catch and ingest the many mourning doves and house sparrows that come to our feeders the year around. The birds could be feeding peacefully on grain, then, suddenly, are gone in an instant. Then you see the Coop flashing through the yard and into bushes where the sparrows hide. After much quick scrambling, the Cooper's might exit the shrubbery with a house sparrow or, maybe, one in each foot.
The doves try to use speed in getting away from the Coop, but once in a while a dove hits one of our windows in its panic and drops dead to the ground. The Coop perches in a tree and leisurely dines on its victims, while a cascade of feathers floats gently to the ground.
Their breeding season starting in January, red-tails hatch young mostly in tall trees in fields and along hedgerows between fields. Cooper's hawks rear offspring in high, coniferous trees in older suburbs. Both these raptor species have become accustomed to human activities and noise and, therefore, are successful species among them. And their raising youngsters in different habitats reduces rivalry between these feathered predators for nesting space and food. Both types of raptors make large nurseries of sticks and twigs, lined with grasses, or usurp stick nests made by crows.
Protected by law, the adaptable and common red-tailed hawks and Cooper's hawks are making good livings in cropland and suburbs respectively. And they are hatching young in those human-made habitats. Making do with what is available is a key to success, and these two kinds of raptors are highly successful.
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