The Cooper's Hawk (Accipiter cooperii) is a medium-sized hawk.

They are permanent residents in most of the United States and their breeding range from Southern Canada to Northern Mexico.

The average adult male, at 312 g (11 oz), 39 cm (15 in) long and a wingspan of 73 cm (29 in), is considerably smaller than the female, at 500 g (1.1 lb), 45 cm (18 in) long and a wingspan of 83 cm (33 in). Adults have short broad wings and a long round-ended tail with dark bands. They have a dark cap, blue-grey upperparts and white underparts with red bars. They have red eyes and yellow legs. This bird is somewhat larger than a Sharp-shinned Hawk and smaller than a Northern Goshawk, though size is blurred between larger individuals of the previous species and small males of the latter. It appears long-necked in flight and has been described by birdwatchers as looking like a "flying cross".

These birds capture prey from cover or while flying quickly through dense vegetation, relying almost totally on surprise. Most prey are mid-sized birds, with typical prey including American Robins, Jays, piciforms, starlings, and doves. They also eat small mammals, especially rodents like chipmunks and tree squirrels. Mammalian prey can be as small as mice and as large as hares. Other possibilities are lizards, frogs, snakes and large insects. They often pluck the feathers off their prey on a post or other perch. They are increasingly seen hunting smaller songbirds in backyards with feeders. They will perch in trees overlooking the backyard feeders, then swoop down and scatter the other birds in order to capture one in flight.

At one time, Cooper's Hawks were heavily hunted in persecution for preying on poultry and were called "chicken hawks". We now know that predation by these hawks on domestic animals borders on negligible and they are rarely hunted these days. This bird was named after the naturalist William Cooper, one of the founders of the American Museum of Natural History in New York.


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