Hi Folks:
I heard some juv Cooper's Hawks in a small woodlot in the city of DesMoines
today. This begging call sort of sounds like the "peeer" of Western
Wood-Pewee, but is more piercing. It actually sounds more like "pseeew".
Boy is it loud. Back in mid-April I had seen a Cooper's Hawk (COHA) pair in
this densely wooded area in the City of DesMoines. The pair was a adult
male and a female in juv plumage. They were flying around at that time near
a large stick nest, visible at that time in an alder. After that the trees
leafed out, and I didn't hear or see anything in that area. But today the
juv calls could be heard from the woods. I watched for quite awhile before
seeing two juvs perched in a cedar tree. Then they flew down and I couldn't
see them anymore. At least one adult flew by me and just before it
approached it made some soft "caw" sounds.
After seeing this about 11am, I decided to go down to Kent Ponds (GRNRA) to
check out a possible nesting COHA pair in the woods there. I went inside
the closed gate about 1pm (w/ permission) that is in back of the Animal
Shelter and walked along the entry road. About 100 feet in, I paused to
look into the cottonwoods, and immediately heard a COHA going kek, kek, kek.
It flew quite a bit, and I finally saw it. It was a juvenile. It seems
pretty early in summer for a juvenile to be calling kek, kek, kek as it
flies about in the woods. Could this be a young adult? A possible new
fledgling?
Yours, Carol Schulz
DesMoines
mail to: linusq at att.net