Cooper's Hawks in Canatara!

I recently spent 15 minutes watching 2 Cooper's Hawks, hunt for food nearby. Dashing through vegetation to catch birds is a dangerous lifestyle. In a study of more than 300 Cooper's Hawk skeletons, 23 percent showed old, healed-over fractures in the bones of the chest, especially of the furcula, or wishbone.

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Coopers_Hawk/overview

Although catching birds in flight is their traditional hunting method and food source, the high population of Eastern Chipmunks in Canatara Park has provided Cooper's Hawks with an alternate source of food. Perhaps they break fewer bones from catching chipmunks on the ground than from plucking birds out of the air?

Cooper's Hawks nested for several years in the portion of Canatara known as Tarzanland. After a few year's absence, a successful nesting season in 2023 resulted in two young birds. Males typically build the nest over a period of about 2 weeks, with just the slightest help from the female. Nests are piles of sticks roughly 27 inches in diameter and 6-17 inches high with a cup-shaped depression in the middle.

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Coopers_Hawk/lifehistory# nesting

They have a remarkably long tail for their body size.

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Coopers_Hawk/overview

Both Cooper's Hawks are visible on the same limb.

The Hawk in the above photo set the chipmunk down and moved away. I didn't want to disturb it, so walked away but wonder if the second hawk came over for a meal? It would be interesting to know since I believe both birds are adults.