Birds are always adapting to their environment. I was watching sparrows in the parking lot, going from car to car picking bugs from the radiator fins of the cars this summer. Smart little birds recognising a smorgasbord for their taking.
How incredible. Or more likely, how incredible that I find this incredible. Of course hawks are "smart" and have mental maps, strategy, and skill. The world is so much richer than we know! Thanks for this.
I recently saw a juvenile Cooper's Hawk (at least I believe it was a Cooper's Hawk) perched in an old abandoned/closed exhibit at Zoo Miami. Unfortunately, I can't upload the photo here it looks like, but a picture of it can be seen at the very end of my Zoo Miami Gallery.
(Not sure if this direct link to it will work, but worth a shot.)
Maja, I've seen our local Coopies doing highly intelligent things over 24 years on this land.
My late darling and I observed a pair of Coopies one year who seemed to be cooperating in hunting. One would come into our cluster of apple trees, moving in close, slowly, and without flapping, from an angle using the house roof as cover for his approach. Then sit there quietly.
After awhile, another Coopie--apparently waiting for an opportunity or shared signal or something--would come in from the opposite angle, thru the woods/from behind the firewood tent, and flush grazing tiny birds (juncos, sparrows, towhees) along the south fenceline. Toward Apple Waiting Coopie, who would swoop, and in that confusion the poor little ones would be going in all directions in the firebreak...and both Coopies succeeded in a meal.
Both appeared to be males and it was hard not to conclude that both were working together for mates (right time of year for females on nest, if I may be allowed to say that) somewhere in this thickly wooded area. They departed in different directions with their prey. Or maybe they were just buddies, or siblings. But they were clearly cooperating both strategically and tactically. We saw this happen three times, then scheduling kept us from further observing.
There was also the year where a young Coopie, whom we called Coopie, came out daily to play Chase And Counter Chase with a young crow. Crow was the child of our resident longstanding frens Bob and Emma. We called her Yvette (again, if I'm not violating any rules there). Yvette and Coopie would take turns chasing each other back and forth, east to west, west to east, again and again, over our south firebreak. When I saw the first pass, it was crow chasing hawk. Second pass, the opposite. One of those "HELLWHAT?" moments in bird watching. I called to my darling, who watched and said, "They're playing tag!"
But there was no tag:
Bob and Emma were watching vigilantly from the oldest apple tree. At one point, Coopie cut and stabbed at Yvette with his talons. It looked like play--a lazy swing, a bunt. But Bob let out a raucous shriek from the apple tree. Coopie's reply was to cut off his flight, turn, and land in the tree WITH BOB up above him , then Yvette landing near her dadda. I have photos. They all sat there for a good while, quiet and close and, we figured, "making up."
I have no doubt that Coopies are some of the smartest birbs out there, and I appreciate the trouble you took to summarize/present this finding. A friend in California long ago told me he thought he was observing redtailed hawks (iirc) using traffic on I-5 to hunt, so this meshes up precisely with that. He one day saw one of these hawks misjudge distance and get clipped by an 18-wheeler with a much taller cargo trailer than usual. F.
Edit: It was Emma, not Amanda that year. Amanda was a couple years later.
So cool! Thanks for the post, I find it so fascinating to read about the cognitive abilities of animals. Humans tend to think we're unique, but as we're paying more attention to the behavior of animals we've had to re-adjust the definition of what separates us from other animals many times (for example, we're not the only ones using tools, either!).
If I may just offer a suggestion - the original study did not indicate if the hawk was a male or a female. Females are larger than males in adult hawks, I'm not sure if that difference is as evident in juvenile hawks (hard-core birders, please advise here!). The study itself described the hawk in gender-neutral terms, but this article referred to the hawk as "he." Since as far as I know the hawk's sex is unknown, it may be more appropriate to refer to it in sex-neutral terms so we don't perpetuate gender stereotypes.
But that does not detract from the overall wonderful article, which I thoroughly enjoyed!
Hi Ruth, thank you so much for your very kind and constructive comment! You're right, it was unjustified to call the hawk a 'he.' I have adjusted the text, now using sex-neutral wording.
Incredibly informative, as always! I always took birds of prey for creatures of habit (with perhaps the exception of Caracaras), greatly adapted for a hunting formula and not so much for improvising. I wonder if our native Accipiter nisus has a genius hidden inside as well!
Thanks for your comment, Idris! Let's watch out for urban sparrowhawks here in Belgium. And if we find one doing similarly remarkable stuff, we can publish a case report! 🤓
Birds are always adapting to their environment. I was watching sparrows in the parking lot, going from car to car picking bugs from the radiator fins of the cars this summer. Smart little birds recognising a smorgasbord for their taking.
How incredible. Or more likely, how incredible that I find this incredible. Of course hawks are "smart" and have mental maps, strategy, and skill. The world is so much richer than we know! Thanks for this.
I recently saw a juvenile Cooper's Hawk (at least I believe it was a Cooper's Hawk) perched in an old abandoned/closed exhibit at Zoo Miami. Unfortunately, I can't upload the photo here it looks like, but a picture of it can be seen at the very end of my Zoo Miami Gallery.
(Not sure if this direct link to it will work, but worth a shot.)
https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!I9oH!,w_720,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F59cc9ebb-2126-4685-b268-9a033b1e7212_3648x5472.jpeg
Maja, I've seen our local Coopies doing highly intelligent things over 24 years on this land.
My late darling and I observed a pair of Coopies one year who seemed to be cooperating in hunting. One would come into our cluster of apple trees, moving in close, slowly, and without flapping, from an angle using the house roof as cover for his approach. Then sit there quietly.
After awhile, another Coopie--apparently waiting for an opportunity or shared signal or something--would come in from the opposite angle, thru the woods/from behind the firewood tent, and flush grazing tiny birds (juncos, sparrows, towhees) along the south fenceline. Toward Apple Waiting Coopie, who would swoop, and in that confusion the poor little ones would be going in all directions in the firebreak...and both Coopies succeeded in a meal.
Both appeared to be males and it was hard not to conclude that both were working together for mates (right time of year for females on nest, if I may be allowed to say that) somewhere in this thickly wooded area. They departed in different directions with their prey. Or maybe they were just buddies, or siblings. But they were clearly cooperating both strategically and tactically. We saw this happen three times, then scheduling kept us from further observing.
There was also the year where a young Coopie, whom we called Coopie, came out daily to play Chase And Counter Chase with a young crow. Crow was the child of our resident longstanding frens Bob and Emma. We called her Yvette (again, if I'm not violating any rules there). Yvette and Coopie would take turns chasing each other back and forth, east to west, west to east, again and again, over our south firebreak. When I saw the first pass, it was crow chasing hawk. Second pass, the opposite. One of those "HELLWHAT?" moments in bird watching. I called to my darling, who watched and said, "They're playing tag!"
But there was no tag:
Bob and Emma were watching vigilantly from the oldest apple tree. At one point, Coopie cut and stabbed at Yvette with his talons. It looked like play--a lazy swing, a bunt. But Bob let out a raucous shriek from the apple tree. Coopie's reply was to cut off his flight, turn, and land in the tree WITH BOB up above him , then Yvette landing near her dadda. I have photos. They all sat there for a good while, quiet and close and, we figured, "making up."
I have no doubt that Coopies are some of the smartest birbs out there, and I appreciate the trouble you took to summarize/present this finding. A friend in California long ago told me he thought he was observing redtailed hawks (iirc) using traffic on I-5 to hunt, so this meshes up precisely with that. He one day saw one of these hawks misjudge distance and get clipped by an 18-wheeler with a much taller cargo trailer than usual. F.
Edit: It was Emma, not Amanda that year. Amanda was a couple years later.
So cool! Thanks for the post, I find it so fascinating to read about the cognitive abilities of animals. Humans tend to think we're unique, but as we're paying more attention to the behavior of animals we've had to re-adjust the definition of what separates us from other animals many times (for example, we're not the only ones using tools, either!).
If I may just offer a suggestion - the original study did not indicate if the hawk was a male or a female. Females are larger than males in adult hawks, I'm not sure if that difference is as evident in juvenile hawks (hard-core birders, please advise here!). The study itself described the hawk in gender-neutral terms, but this article referred to the hawk as "he." Since as far as I know the hawk's sex is unknown, it may be more appropriate to refer to it in sex-neutral terms so we don't perpetuate gender stereotypes.
But that does not detract from the overall wonderful article, which I thoroughly enjoyed!
Wait. Are you assuming its species?
Hi Ruth, thank you so much for your very kind and constructive comment! You're right, it was unjustified to call the hawk a 'he.' I have adjusted the text, now using sex-neutral wording.
Incredibly informative, as always! I always took birds of prey for creatures of habit (with perhaps the exception of Caracaras), greatly adapted for a hunting formula and not so much for improvising. I wonder if our native Accipiter nisus has a genius hidden inside as well!
Thanks for your comment, Idris! Let's watch out for urban sparrowhawks here in Belgium. And if we find one doing similarly remarkable stuff, we can publish a case report! 🤓