[Umpqua Birds] Cooper's Hawk display flight (Eastwood Elementary, Roseburg)
- From: Matthew G Hunter <matthewghunter@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: umpquabirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 25 Feb 2014 18:26:22 -0800
Hi Folks,
I wish I had better photos, but at first I was just looking to see what
in the world was going on with this bird. I also tried for a video just a
bit too late. Either I have forgotten it or I have never seen the display
flight of a Cooper's Hawk before.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/matthewghunter/sets/72157641518616064/
It reminded me very much of display flights I have seen of Northern
Harriers, so on first glance that's what I thought it was. One of their
display flights is reminiscent of a Common Nighthawk or the flight displays
of a Rock Pigeon, where the wings come up high and are held briefly, and
the flight is kind of like a slow butterfly!!! In the flight of this
Cooper's Hawk, not only was the flight style unlike any typical accipiter
flight, but the whole shape of the bird was different. Specifically, the
tail was held so that --- I'm not kidding it looked like there was one
single stack of tail feathers, not two or more, you can see this in the
photos. And then the undertail coverts were made into two tubes on either
side of the undertail of the bird, looking like white bloomers, also
visible in the photos. The worst photo of them all does at least show the
wings in the high di-hedral that was momentarily sustained (or just slower
than typical flight), giving it the odd feeling of a butterfly or Rock
Pigeon display.
Astonishingly, when I came home that morning, another one was displaying
about a quarter-mile SE of my house, much higher in the air!
One thing that confused me a bit, and you can see this barely in one of the
photos: the bird is not in adult plumage; it has streaks on the breast. So,
I'm wondering if this is normal for non-adult plumage birds???
The bird and its mate may still be in the area, and may be an opportunity
for photos and video.
Best Regards,
Matt Hunter
Melrose, OR
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