Cooper’s Hawks in Houston are by no means rare. In addition they are a very common migrant and winter visitor, along with their cousin the Sharp shinned Hawk. Cooper’s Hawks in Houston in the summer are much less common. As a result breeding pairs have been exceedingly uncommon for quite some time.
I have seen and heard Cooper’s in my neighborhood multiple times over the past week or so. Low passes through the trees and conspicuous perching and screaming lead me to believe that there is a nesting pair close. Although, the bird pictured below is clearly an immature bird and not a breeder or newly fledged. Summer nesting pairs of Cooper’s Hawks in Houston have been unheard of for decades. I have read some recent reports of other sightings in the area, particularly in the more heavily wooded proximity to bayous and parks.
This means you should be on the lookout for Cooper’s hawks nesting in your neighborhood if you live in the area. Coopers Hawks tend build nests in tall pines and large oaks. I’m going to keep a lookout for nests and any fledged nestlings in the near future. This will confirm that indeed the Cooper’s Hawks are nesting again. Welcome back.
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Nice site redo Richard! Miss seeing you over on BBC, hope all is well.
Alex
Thanks Alex. All is well! I’ll be back!!
We just saw a Coopers
We just saw a Cooper’s Hawk TODAY in Montrose (77006 zip code). It flew into a large oak tree on the property with its prey. There was lots of other noise from other birds who I assume were threatened by the hawk. It is a beautiful bird.
Mahlon Banda
Keep your eyes to the sky!
I have a nesting pair that had 3-4 fledglings but they’ve recently… disappeared 🙁 after months! Is this normal or should I be concerned that there was human intervention?
The fledglings disperse at some point. They tend to hang around the nesting site for some time and then eventually wander. Pretty normal behaviour.
I have a nesting pair of hawks with two young birds in the nest in Champion Forest. Would you like to email me for the address? The female has a huge wingspan. The nest is about 24 inches in diameter and about 14 inches deep.
Sounds like they might be Red Shouldered Hawks. A picture would be helpful.
Spring Branch has Cooper’s hawks, despite the bluejays objections.
Haaa! Made me chuckle…Thanks!
Have had a Cooper’s nesting in my yard two springs ago, but she got scared off by a truck that hit a large branch of that tree. Today had a Cooper’s land in a tree right outside my house, and when I took pictures, I noticed she had a leg tag.. Anyone know who tag’s Cooper’s Hawks around here, or if maybe it was tagged and migrated?
Ditto
I live in Houston, inside the 610 loop, southwest of the medical center. Spring of 2015 a Cooper’s was building a nest in one of the large live oaks in our yards, but before she could finish it, a truck went down our street and hit a large branch, knocking it off and shaking the tree… scared her off and she did not return. I saw her intermittently around the area where we have an abundance of mourning doves… Then, today, I saw a large flock of Cedar Waxwings in the pecan leafless tree right outside my window (have never seen them around here before)… was looking at them and then suddenly disappeared, followed by two fleeing doves, and then the Cooper’s Hawk, who landed in the same tree, after the unsuccessful hunt. I took some pictures and was very surprised to see a leg tag on the hawk!!?? Do you know who tags hawks in the area, or perhaps it was tagged and migrated?
That’s interesting. My guess is a migrating bird, but I don’t know. If you have a good photo of the tag, someone from TPWD or ABA might be able to find out who is tagging?