Cooper’s Hawk (Accipiter cooperii) in Prospect. The red-orange eyes are a mark of a mature bird; juvenile birds have yellowish eyes. This accipiter, or forest hawk, is named after William Cooper, one of the founders of the New York Academy of Sciences; the species was named and first described by the naturalist Charles Lucien Bonaparte in 1828. Bonaparte, who was nephew to the Corsican Upstart, was responsible for identifying/naming some 100 North American species. (Traditionally, you don’t name anything after yourself; Boneparte’s Gull, Chroicocephalus philadelphia, was named by someone else.)
Cooper’s
4 responses to “Cooper’s”
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Nice. I’ve never seen one of these. Didn’t know that about the eyes.
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Keep on the lookout for these. You’ve definitely got them. And their smaller cousins the Sharp-shinned hawks. Accipters often haunt backyard bird feeders. They rounded wings and long tails make they great maneuverers, as they attempt to pounce on their avian prey.
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Thanks, I will.
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[…] I barely saw it, high up in a tree on a lead-grey afternoon. Here are some better pictures of an adult Cooper’s in Prospect Park from last […]
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