Here's what I found in a scientific book on bird weights I have: Cooper's Hawk
(female, which this bird likely was), average weight 395 grams, range 300-515.
Band-tailed Pigeon, average weight 529 grams, range 460-588. Would think the
Pigeon was killed in our yard, mostly plucked (breast area feathers
everywhere), and breast mostly eaten when I interrupted the Hawk. It didn't
attempt to carry off what was left of the Pigeon when scared (too heavy yet).
Dennis
----- Original Message -----
From: Olin Allen
To: obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Tuesday, March 15, 2016 11:02 PM
Subject: [obol] Re: Cooper's Hawk/Band-tailed Pigeon
Dennis:
As a very rough rule-of-thumb, raptors have difficulty carrying anything
that's approaching 50% of their body weight in powered flight (they can carry
much more than that when gliding). A large female Coops (over 550 g) could
carry a small pigeon (in the low 200's). On the other hand, a small male Coops
and a large pigeon weigh about the same (in the low 300's), so it depends.
Olin
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Olin Allen
Shangri-Llama Farm
Monmouth, Oregon
