[EBB Sightings] Cooper's Hawk in Berkeley

Well, we got a new yard bird at our house (McGee Ave near Allston, in 
Berkeley) this morning. As we stepped out the door, we interrupted the 
stoop of a Cooper's Hawk onto a songbird of some sort on the ground in our 
front yard. The little bird went into the bushes, the hawk rested a moment 
on the ground, then flew up into a street tree and became invisible.

Even though we had only a brief glimpse of the bird and its tail looked 
very square, I'm calling it as a Cooper's for two reasons. One was size -- 
it was distinctly bigger than a Scrub-jay, both in length and definitely in 
bulk. Since it was only about ten feet away, this was for once an easy one 
to call. The other is place. Although there were a group of Sharp-shinned 
Hawks hanging out on Bonita between Cedar and Vine for several years in the 
1990s, we've never seen anything but Cooper's in this neighborhood. Am I 
correct in assuming that Sharpies would normally be further uphill in more 
wooded areas?

Tom Condit


Tom Condit
tomcondit at igc.org