Falconry: Coopers Hawk introduction

This falconry video is an introduction to the Cooper's Hawk (accipiter cooperii) Coopers hawks are arguably the most versatile raptor species in the United States, capable of hunting everything from a sparrow to a pheasant. Yet few falconers choose to fly them. This video explains what makes a coopers hawk a coopers hawk. It describes all the abilities and attributes that make them a great choice for a hunting partner, as well as all the things that make them a terrible choice.
In the video I reference a new facebook page I set up to share falconry videos and information and to connect falconers all over the world. You can find that facebook page here:
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[@verukasault9065]

Awesome vid!! I love your videos. Always so engaging and fascinating! What amazing birds. Thank you so much for all you do. ♡🦅

[@shae899]

It hasn't even started playing yet and I already love it.

[@keithsprague8461]

I'm working from a sample size of one but I flew a very late season male Cooper's that got very calm by keeping him on a pedestal perch in the house. We flew on sparrows, starlings, and pigeons in barns. He would actually bring the Sparrows and starlings back to the glove to eat them. He also caught double sparrows, one in each foot on a couple of occasions. Watching him chase a sparrow through the engine of a tractor and catch it on the other side is still my favorite flight. I didn't experience any aggression towards me but maybe I just got lucky.

[@shae899]

Our wild resident female of about a decade give or take has been very sociable ahead of breeding season this year. She's been following us around the yard while we're doing chores preforming barrel rolls and flying upsidedown and making "the juvenile noise" and just hanging out preening and napping overseeing things. Her mate just showed up for the season late evening before last. I'm really looking forward to baby season. I know you touched on it a bit in the hybrid video, but can you do a video on plumage abberrations in raptors, sometime? Our resident female cooper'e hawk is very large, mostly juvenile brown on top with a few gray feathers and a dark chocolate cap, and has pumpkin colored eyes (but has the ruddy face and chest) at approximately 10 years old age. (She is 7 at the absolute youngest 2nd or 3rd generation resident female in our yard) One of her previous mates was all pastel colored and her current mate has the classic Cooper's Hawk coloring but is about as small as a female sharp-shinned hawk and also broad shouldered. We also have a melanistic rough-legged hawk that visits in the winter that it took me forever to ID. Plumage and build aberrations and causes really interest me.

[@robertfaucher3750]

The local Coopers Hawk used to hang around the neighborhood whenever my downstairs neighbor would walk his chihuahua.

[@happybee7725]

Very informative and interesting as always.

[@timmccarthy3034]

I LOVE YOUR EXPLAINATION of Coops behavior.....Funny......made me laugh. ( thanks I really needed that today).. You have a PERFECT way to explain their little reptile/ dinosaur like brain.....My old sponsor was a Coops guy, ....his specialty, was Coops on Quail..in southern CA ....where I started flying birds..... RTHs.... in 1972.... ( as a 12 yr old kid lol).....and I learned from him....many things..Q...Now I live in south France and we have a lot of Buzzards here, big RedTailed Hawk "LOOK-A-LIKES"...but they are REALLY no quite the SAME bird.......even though they are close to RTH s..in many ways...No ONE here ever flies them at all......which always makes me question "WHY NOT? " I REALLY want to try one.. You tell me they "are a bit more STUBBRN than a RTH" , which, I can deal with... I've had a few RTH's that were PRETTY FUKIN STUBBORN ..LOL....So, I ask, HOW MUCH MORE STUBBORN CAN YOU GET??? lol..... I laugh when I think about some of the more "interesting" experiences I had with my RTH's.....(GOD I LOVE FALCONRY) .We also have Sparrowhawks, the European "version", of a "Coopers kinda crossed with a Sharpie"...(?)..To me they look a bit bigger than a Sharpie....and a tiny bit smaller perhaps , than a female Coops.....I see them where I live, going after a lot of different types of birds, from pigeons to starlings, to sparrows, etc......Anything with wings, I think , is their target.. We also have Chukar Quail here , and Ringneck Pheasant, and I would not be too surrised to see one chase one of them too... lol.....AMAZING BIRDS to see fly...........So WHAT is the difference..between the 3 species? Are the "Sparrowhawks" also kinda "quirky" .....and SO BRUTALY and TERRIBLY unforgiving, etc...and difficult as Coopers are ? And, also, what about the Sharpie? Same way? Same "personality issues" to deal with?

[@clintonrand5730]

Great video Ben. You explained the Coops perfectly

[@stampboi]

Awesome video! What is your recommendation for housing a passage coops? I’ve had most success with free lofting…this seems to cut down on feather and leg issues that can be a problem when tethering a bird as flighty as a passage coops. Your thoughts?

[@benwoodrufffalconry]

Early season passage, like August or September, I usually keep inside on a perch. But later than that, I do what you said. Free lofted in a long flight chamber with perches they can fly back and forth on to let out that nervous energy if needed, without damaging any feathers.

[@DennisBurmester98]

I love your videos man! Very interesting and educational

[@richardthompson3296]

I like coop's. They just take a ton of time for me.

[@ShepherdTheHawkFanatic]

I'm not even a min in and I know it'll be great :)

[@keerthivasannambiraju955]

8:47: I know what you are going to say, that the Cooper's hawk is not a beginners bird but it used to be considered as one. Nowadays not so much, but lets back up a bit here even though an American kestrel is considered a beginner's bird, it is hard to manage it without some skill.

[@benwoodrufffalconry]

Yes and of course it all depends on the person doing the training. Technically any species can be successfully trained as a first bird in the right hands. And on the flip side of that, some people can’t even train a species as easy as a Harris hawk, because they aren’t willing to put in the effort.

[@patrickseekins1299]

Wild Coopers on east coast hunt squirrels in the forests.

[@shae899]

Yep! Our big girls take down fox squirrels and can fly away with them. Don't think they'd have any trouble with a pheasant. I swear they're all part goshawk or something though. Many of our females are funny colors and massive in Michigan.

[@thomasharrell8646]

Coopers actually got me into the sport….come across one with a broke wing, little passage male back august. Nurse it back to the wild (no one closer by would take him in, dnr told me to throw him back in ditch and let nature take its course) I was able to study for rehabilitation certificate and passed the test the next day, …..I just wanna say your previous videos on coopers really helped thur that. My goal is to get back to a coppers hawk in falconry……my question now is have you ever used a gos X cooper (goppers’ hawk) or do you know of any one?

[@benwoodrufffalconry]

I don’t know anyone in the states who breed gos X coops hybrids. I would LOVE to fly one. I’ve seen people breed them in Europe, but they are crossed with a European gos.

[@thomasharrell8646]

@@benwoodrufffalconry also just seen Harris X golden eagle

[@ComicusFreemanius]

Most traditional non-traditional hawk.

[@Turretguy]

I understand you can’t hunt off-season, but can you fly your birds (not for hunting) during the summer despite moulting?

[@angelgreen3532]

Flying weight is lower than you want them to be while they're molting. When flying, you need them to be hungry enough to want to respond and pursue quarry (if you just ate a huge meal and I asked you to go cook a four course dinner, you'd tell me to jump off a cliff). While molting, they need to be a bit fat to ensure that their new feathers don't come in with fret marks.