More about Cooper's Hawks

Photo by Ned Harris

Ned attended the presentation on Tucson's Urban Birds of Prey by U of A Professor Bill Mannan at the Tucson Audubon meeting, and shared his notes with me for the blog. How cool is that?! The following are excerpts from Ned's notes:

• Tucson has the highest density of Cooper’s Hawks found anywhere in the US. Availability of food (doves) and water is the key. 
• There are 200+ breeding pairs in Tucson. 
• Most of the young Cooper's Hawks here are banded; 2500+ Cooper's Hawks have been banded in Tucson since 1994. 
• The number one killer of Cooper's Hawks is window strikes. (Anne notes: One hit our window chasing a dove.)
• Most local Cooper's Hawk nests have 3 young with an average of 1.5 fledglings. (i.e., some of the young die or are killed before they can fledge.) 
• Don't 'rescue' young raptors if you find them on the ground. Leave them alone and their parent(s) will come for them. 
• Report dead raptors and new nest sites to Prof. Mannan. 

Stay tuned for Harris's Harris's Hawk notes in tomorrow's post. 

If you have lecture notes on a Sabino Canyon topic that you'd like to share, please let me know. I'm happy - thrilled, actually - to spread the knowledge around.