Cooper’s Hawk 1

It all started when…

we received a phone call from the owner of an Alameda, California welding shop. This juvenile male Cooper’s Hawk had flown into the shop through their high roll-up door in pursuit of a flying meal, and couldn’t find his way out again. In the photo below, I am crouched behind a large tool chest to observe the hawk before catching it.

After a routine capture, our exam determined he was uninjured, in good health and condition, so he was released outside and flew off to return to his life in the East Bay wilds. Urban and suburban populations of Cooper’s Hawks have rebounded over the last few decades, in part due to the banning of DDT (a pesticide which had profound negative effects on the reproduction of many birds of prey) and in part because these forest hawks have adapted so well to the built environment. Eventually they may also learn how to use building exits.

(Photos by Peter Meyer)