Cooper's Hawk Behavior Question (1 Viewer)

[Kannafoot]

Hi folks,
I've had a female Cooper's Hawk on my property in Charlestown, Rhode Island, USA (we have 2.7 acres) for just about a month. She sits in pretty much the same location every day and makes cooing type sounds until a male hawk swoops in and joins her briefly. (Whether or not it's the same male, I couldn't say. She doesn't allow him to hang around long.) My question is, shouldn't she be building a nest by now? There's no sign of a nest anywhere on the property even though we have many suitable locations. This being late April, I'd have expected her to be incubating eggs, by now. Is her behavior normal? If it is, when should we expect to see nest building?

Ron (Kannafoot)

 

[lmans66]

Juvenile Coopers perhaps or near adult? I don't know the years that need to occur before a Coopers will begin to get the nesting instinct and being to breed etc... Perhaps others do, but this might explain it. Does it appear to be a full grown adult or perhaps in transition?

 

[lmans66]

I did some looking and apparently Coopers will begin to breed in their second year. So depending on what you are looking at, you might have a 1 year or less than 2 of sorts, or even a two year old that is not ready to breed. But I would imagine this is the issue here.... Can you post an image of the Coopers?

 

[Kannafoot]

Thanks for checking up on it. I'll upload a photo shortly. I was thinking as well that it was a juvenile, however she's certainly engaging in frequent mating behavior. She just doesn't appear to be interested in building a nest. Anyway, I'll post a photo shortly.

 

[Kannafoot]

Here she is...

 

[lmans66]

That looks like an adult Coopers....So my idea is out the window. So....I have no idea.

 

[Kannafoot]

Well, she may have finally gotten down to business. There's now a rather large nest about 30 feet up in a pine tree not too far from where she'd been doing all of her mating behavior. I haven't seen either hawk actually in the nest, but I know for certain that nest wasn't there two days ago. So there's hope!