SUBURBAN COOP'S, RED-TAILS AND HORNED OWLS

      Sometimes at any time of year, when driving through my home town of New Holland, Pennsylvania, I am happy to see a Cooper's hawk zipping swiftly across the street.  Or I might see a Coop dash through our suburban neighborhood after a mourning dove or house sparrow.

     Or I'll be excited to see a handsome red-tailed hawk perched on the tip of a tall tree or circling over our neighborhood.  Either way, the hawk is watching for gray squirrels.  And once in a while in bed at night, I'll be thrilled to hear the boisterous hooting of a pair of great horned owls in our yard. 

     The beautiful Cooper's hawks, red-tailed hawks and horned owls evolved in woods and the edges of woodlands.  Today they are also common, year around residents in many older suburbs, with their many tall deciduous and coniferous trees, throughout much of North America.  And all these adaptable raptors help make the suburbs a bit more wild and interesting.  

     Suburbs are human-made habitats of trees, mowed grass and trimmed shrubbery.  They have enough greenery, seeds, berries, nuts and plant-eating invertebrates that feed enough wildlife that, in turn, feed these raptors.     

     Lithe Cooper's hawks are maneuverable with their short, rounded wings and long, steering tails.  They prey mostly on sparrow-sized to dove-sized birds in woods, lawns, and even fields at times.  Coops hide in ambush and seem to zip "out of nowhere" to panic prey into flight.  Then those swift hawks dash and swoop after swerving, dodging victims to catch in their eight sharp, curved talons.  

     I've seen some Cooper's feeding on their prey in our back yard trees.  Feathers torn off the victims by those raptors float to the ground or blow away in the wind.  Sometimes I'll find a bird wing or bill on the ground of our lawn.  

     Stately red-tails are masters of soaring on high with little effort.  They have broad wings and tails that act like parachutes to keep them aloft on the wind.  While they soar, they watch fields for mice, rats and other prey, and suburbs for gray squirrels, which they seem to specialize in.  

     Some red-tails perch majestically in trees in fields and suburbs to watch for victims.  They are camouflaged in those trees so prey won't know they are there, which helps in ambushing victims.

     Unlike the diurnal-hunting Coops and red-tails, the elegant, but fierce-looking great horned owls hunt mostly at night, although male owls hunt by day early in spring when their mates stay on their nurseries to brood the young owlets, which are vulnerable to foul weather and predators.  

     With all raptors, one parent is always on the nest while the other one hunts.  But later, when the chicks are more grown, both parents hunt for their rapidly growing offspring.

     The camouflaged horned owls mostly perch in coniferous trees in ambush in woods edges and older suburbs.  They watch for rodents mostly, but other prey they can handle, too.  When seen perching upright, the two foot tall horned owls appear beautiful and stately.  

     Like all raptors, these hawks and owls are well equipped for hunting smaller wildlife.  They all have excellent sight and hearing.  Owls have big eyeballs to house large pupils so the owls can see well at night.  All raptors have strong feet and sharp talons for piercing the preys' bodies.               

     Coops, red-tails and horned owls retire in taller evergreen trees through winter, the hawks at night and the owls during the day.  Needled boughs black cold, winter winds.  Late in winter afternoons, red-tails soar gently into the conifers for the night.  But Cooper's hawks zip in as is their way.  

     At dusk, pairs of horned owls hoot loudly to each other, then fly out of their roost trees and off to hunt prey.  I've been thrilled to hear many pairs of these owls hooting to each other at sunset in winter.

     All these raptors raise young on stick platforms in tall conifers in some suburbs.  Red-tails and horned owls start courting in December and lay eggs by mid-February.  Coopers' nesting schedule is a little later.            

     These adaptable, predatory birds live successfully in many of our suburbs.  They have more nesting space and higher populations and we are thrilled to acknowledge their wild, beautiful presence through each year.