Juvenile Cooper’s Hawks are out of the nest – video

At the beginning of May I published an article on the Cooper’s Hawks mating in the Greater Montreal Region : The Cooper’s Hawks are Mating in the Greater Montreal Region

During July the young Cooper’s Hawks quietly started venturing out of the nest. They first find perches on branches around the nest. They don’t really have a choice. The more they grow the less space there is for them in the nest. Eventually, one by one, they take their first flight.

One of the first ground activities our young Cooper’s Hawks take on is practice hunting. Before long they will be independent and need to be fully capable of feeding themselves. They practice their hunting skills with pine cones and branches on the ground.

At the beginning of their journey out of the nest, the parents will continue to feed them. First the parents shred the meat and share it among the young. Eventually they will just leave that prey on the ground and on branches for the juveniles to feed on.

Young Cooper’s Hawk do not venture too far from the nest. Every little one will remain fairly close to one another for the first part of August. They will continue to play their hunting games together to increase their chances of survival.

Quietly their competitive spirit will create more conflict for food. By mid-August, they will start to disperse and move away a little more from each other and the nest. In the Montreal area, they completely leave their nesting grounds by early September. Only 25 percent of young hawks will survive their first year. Therefore we’ll wish them all the best of luck.

Here’s a little video of the young Cooper’s Hawks. There are always more and more images added to the photo gallery. Visit the birds of prey photo gallery the latest images: http://photos.tempusaura.com/p899851781