Colorado Cooper's Hawk - WOW!

In late April 2014, a neighbor mentioned a pair of Cooper's Hawks that are nesting near their house and have been decimating the small bird population. Here's some pictures (in rough chronological order) starting with the adults ... be sure to scroll down to see the three Hawlets grow and fledge!!!

Here's the three Hawklets on July 3rd - pretty darn cute! ;-)

colorado coopers hawk three

Actual pixel crops of their faces ... the adult's eyes are red

colorado coopers hawk three stooges

July 8th: Hawklet caught in flight - mouseover image to see in motion

cooper's hawk fledged

July 16th: All three hawklets on a neighbor's Pergola - a photographer's dream! ;-)

lafayette colorado cooper's hawk pergola a0

Just one of many very cool pictures from that day - scroll down to see more!

lafayette colorado cooper's hawk pergola b3

Here's the very first sighting/picture of the Cooper's Hawk. My wife and I I walked over to look at the nest, but didn't see any action there, but eagle-eyed Wendy spotted the adult in a nearby willow tree. Due to the Spring growth, it is a real challenge to get a clear view of the hawk.

April 26: Neither Wendy or myself noticed the Cooper's Hawk had "dinner" with 'em! ;-)

colorado coopers hawk a

Anyone want some KFC tonight - Original, BBQ, Extra Crispy ... or Fresh?!? ;-)

colorado coopers hawk KFC dinner

Here's the full-frame image showing how much foilage was in the way

colorado coopers hawk full frame

Another closeup showing of the Cooper's Hawk with "dinner"

colorado coopers hawk more dinner

The Cooper's Hawk then flew to another tree ... that had even more foilage!

colorado coopers hawk other tree

But he poked his head out a few times between all the branches and leaves

colorado coopers hawk closeup 1

colorado coopers hawk closeup 2

May 5th: Can't see any hawklets, but adult is on the nest - mouseover image to see closeup

cooper's hawk on nest

May 12th: This adult is perched 4 trees away from the nest
Very tough sight lines - mouseover image to see another angle

cooper's hawk tough sight lines

Here's a little better sight line - mouseover image to see the head turn

cooper's hawk perched May 12th

Shooting from right below - mouseover to see head move

cooper's hawk closeup

colorado coopers hawk pixel closeup

May 12th: Meanwhile, here is the nest with presumably Mom incubating the egg(s)

colorado coopers hawk nest with mom

May 25th: Mom even more obscured by additional greenery but still incubating the egg(s)

lafayette colorado coopers hawk nest with mom

I was out of town for several weeks ... so real curious what I would see upon returning


June 20th: Mom perched on nest - still no sign of chicks

lafayette colorado coopers hawk perched on nest

lafayette colorado coopers hawk perched on nest

June 21st: Mom still on nest - no signs of any chicks

cooper's hawk adult on nest

June 23rd: So I first look at the nest from the side - mouseover to see closeup - we got chicks!

cooper's hawk chicks side

Definitely some white fluffy action going on there!

cooper's hawk chicks action

So then I move to the "front" of the nest - mouseover image to see closeup

cooper's hawk chicks front

Mom hanging out with a fluffy white Cooper's Hawk Chick! ;-)

cooper's hawk chick mom

Mouseover image to see Mom and Baby Cooper's Hawk just chill'in

cooper's hawk chicki mom chilling

Cooper's Hawk chick pooping over the side of the nest - mouseover to see ... "action" ;-)

cooper's hawk chicks pooping

The nest is about 50' above all this poop on the road underneath the tree

colorado coopers hawk poop stains

June 29th: Cooper's Hawk chick is losing the white fluffiness - mouseover to see profile

cooper's hawk chick profile

June 30th: There are THREE Cooper's Hawk chicks!!!

colorado coopers hawk three chicks

colorado coopers hawk three chicks

Mouseover image to see this chick flap his wings!

cooper's hawk chick wing flapping

July 3rd: Here's the three Hawklets - pretty darn cute! ;-)

colorado coopers hawk three

Actual pixel crops of their faces ... the adult's eyes are red

colorado coopers hawk three stooges

My friend Chuck was nice enough to let me borrow his 1DX and 200-400 lens
Makes my 7D and 70-200 + 2xTC look puny - everyone loves checking out the view

coopers hawk 1dx 200-400 big camera 1

coopers hawk 1dx 200-400 big camera 1

July 4th: Two Cooper's Hawk chicks pose for the Canon 1DX and 200-400 lens

lafayette colorado coopers hawk 1dx 200-400 thanks chuck!

July 5th: First time I've seen one of the hawklets out of the nest - fledging soon!

lafayette colorado coopers hawk chicks out of nest

July 5th: Twilight shot with on-camera flash - another songbird for dinner?!?

twilight picture flash lafayette colorado coopers hawk dinner song bird

July 6th: The first Hawklet is out of the nest - we have a fledg'er!

coopers hawk first fledge

He (or she?!?) has a nice perch - mouseover image to see another image

cooper's hawk fledged

Closeup of the Cooper's Hawk's Talons ... those are RAZOR SHARP!!!

coopers hawk talons

The other two hawklets still in the nest don't look so happy

coopers hawk night wide

I brought more gear that evening. Tripod mounted Canon 7D with 70-200/2.8 plus 2xTC.
And I brought my own "light" to the party with some 580EX flashes and Better Beemer
And yea, that's a wireless remote to trigger the camera while I watch the birds.

coopers hawk setup shot

Twilight shot using off-camera flash

coopers hawk night wide

coopers hawk night close

All three Hawklets ... including one spreading its wings out of the nest

coopers hawk night spread wings

After the Adult "dropped" off dinner (literally), it came back for the scraps

coopers hawk night adult in nest

Can you identify what was for "dinner" from the picture below!

coopers hawk adult dinner

coopers hawk adult dinner closeup

"HEY, you taking a picture of my back-side?!?" ;-)

coopers hawk adult backside

July 8th: Hawklet caught in flight - mouseover image to see in motion

cooper's hawk fledged

Adult Cooper's Hawk brings a late night snack to the nest - mouseover to see wide-angle

cooper's hawk fledged

July 16th: Adult Cooper's Hawk takes flight from CottonWood Tree

coopers hawk adult takes flight

coopers hawk adult takes flight closeup
July 16th: So the neighbor who originally spotted the Cooper's Hawk called me and said all three hawklets are hanging out on their pergola on the back of their house ... and the view from their upstairs bedrooms is great. I figure they'll probably be gone by time I get there ... but what the heck, lets grab my camera gear and wander over there - am I glad I did! Here's the first thing I saw as I walked upstairs - WOW!
lafayette colorado cooper's hawk window pergola

We are able to gently crack a window open and then I was set! ;-)

lafayette colorado cooper's hawk alek pictures

All three hawklets stayed for an hour - they hardly seemed to notice me 30' away
I took over 500 pictures - it was a real challenge whittling 'em down to just the images below

lafayette colorado cooper's hawk pergola a1

lafayette colorado cooper's hawk pergola a0

Holy Crap was this a bird photographer's dream!!!
I added a little off-camera flash to add just a bit of light on 'em

lafayette colorado cooper's hawk pergola a2

lafayette colorado cooper's hawk pergola a3

lafayette colorado cooper's hawk pergola a4

lafayette colorado cooper's hawk pergola a5

The one hawklet liked to lay down on the pergola

lafayette colorado cooper's hawk pergola a6

lafayette colorado cooper's hawk pergola a7

lafayette colorado cooper's hawk pergola a0

If you are into bird photography, it doesn't get much better than this!

lafayette colorado cooper's hawk pergola a8

lafayette colorado cooper's hawk pergola a9

lafayette colorado cooper's hawk pergola b1

lafayette colorado cooper's hawk pergola b2

lafayette colorado cooper's hawk pergola b3

Nice wing spread - mouseover image to see without

cooper's hawk fledged

lafayette colorado cooper's hawk pergola b6

July 22nd: Juvenile Cooper's Hawk hanging out on the Pergola Support Beams

lafayette colorado cooper's hawk pergola below 1

lafayette colorado cooper's hawk pergola below closeup

lafayette colorado cooper's hawk pergola below 2

While Cooper's Hawks mostly eat other birds, I bet a squirrel (in my cherry tree) would be tasty

squirrel in cherry tree

squirrel in cherry tree closeup


Animated image of a Rabbit in my back yard - he better watch out for the Cooper's Hawk!

Use the controls to play, step, pause, slow-down, and/or speed-up the animation.
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rabbit eating



Misc. Notes: Photography Notes: These pictures were taken in Lafayette, Colorado with a Canon 70-200/2.8 lens with 2x teleconvertor mounted on a Canon 7D DSLR. As you can see in the pictures, it was a real challenge to get a clean shot of the nest with all of the foilage.