This picture of a juvenile Cooper’s Hawk was taken on August 2nd at my home near Kerry Line and Pigeon Lake about noon.
Linda Easton
juvenile Cooper’s Hawk – Linda Easton
Note from Tim Dyson, a local raptor expert, who made the identification:
Interesting in Linda`s photo of the Cooper`s, is that it shows an “August” eye colour. They leave the nest and disperse as youngsters throughout the summer, and all the while, most have greenish/gray eyes during this brief period of their lives. In the coming months however, those eyes will become bright yellow. A year from now, most males (and some females) will be showing signs of the eyes turning towards pale orange. After two years of age, males will have either deep orange, or even red eyes. Females take much longer to go through the eye colour change, and some, may not ever even reach the blood-red eyes that the older males have. Interestingly though, males are not sexually mature until their third year, whereas females, they can pair, breed, and raise young after only one year of age. It is common (for accipiters, as well as Red-shouldered, and Broad-winged Hawks), to visit a nest in the spring, and find one completely adult male, with an incubating mate that is still in full immature plumage.
