Tracking Cooper’s Hawks along the Etobicoke Creek

Decapitated Robin carcass, Brampton, July 14 2020

I was exploring the northwestern end of the Etobicoke Creek trail on July 14th when I made my way into an Eastern White Pine plantation edging a creekside forest on the other side of the trail I was on. Near the opening of the trail I found a Robin carcass missing the head.

As I walked along the trail I heard a bit of a crash about the pine branches and stopped. I heard the Coopers hawk before I saw them. They were alarming at me but I also heard what I figure was their mate behind me. The alarm call is often described as a higher pitched repetitive “kek kek kek kek kek kek”, and I now know this to be a good descriptor. I was between the two hawks. I was still about 10m away from the hawk I could see, but she was still pretty concerned about my being there, so I got to thinking that maybe there was a nest somewhere amidst these pines. I pulled out my phone and recorded her call while she hung out on a low dead branch in a pine, ducking occasionally, while flourishing and bobbing her tail. I spoke to her quietly, thanking her for being so brazen, showing herself when she could have remained hidden up high in the tall pines. It felt like forever but, it was all only about 50 seconds, my stopping, seeing, recording, and then leaving. I walked my bike to the far edge of the forest where I came to a bit of a clearing and I sat under the shade of a Black Walnut sapling where I wrote some notes on what happened and then did a bit of a sit spot. Lots of Gypsy moths and various butterflies flitting around.

I then thought that I should take the time to go back and look for signs of a nest or nestlings as it wasn’t every day that I could encounter Cooper’s Hawks so easily. I went back into the forest and looked around the area where I saw the hawk initially. There were a couple of spots where there was a bit of whitewash (bird scat/droppings) on fallen leaves and pine needles, but it could have been any bird that had come through this forest in the past few days. It had rained four days before in Guelph, but I don’t know if that ever made it to Brampton, so the white uric acid could have been there for a while but I would just never know.

Eventually I came across the top of what reminded me of a smaller domestic cat skull, and then a lower mandible a little ways away, but I don't think that was the hawk.. or could it have been? As I was trying to put the skull back together and take some photos, I heard the hawk again. I began filming this time in case I saw them. From farther to the Northwest than where I had seen the female the first time around, a Cooper’s Hawk flew into the pines and towards me. They landed maybe 10 m away, and maybe 6 m high up on a branch. I believe this hawk was the same as before, the female, but I can't be certain. Female Coop’s are larger than the males, as with most birds of prey, so that is what I was going on. She was in front of me, but I couldn't see her until she flew further into the forest and landed on a different White pine. Another hawk flew in as well. It was her mate. I knew then that I was for sure in their territory. A few folks have told me stories over the years of another accipiter species, Northern Goshawks, punching intruders in the back of the head as they left that hawks territory, so I decided it was time to go, carefully, without losing sight of the birds. I told the hawks clearly and loudly that I was leaving, and then made my way towards my bike, watching them until the tall trunks between us obscured my view. I then turned and quickly made back down the path.

Cranium and lower right mandible of a domestic Cat. Did the Cooper’s Hawk get it?

I was still filming as I left in case something exciting or noteworthy happened, but not much in the way of a live sighting.. but I found a Coopers Hawk feather, think I found some Goldfinch feathers, and I found one other feather, fairly small, with what looks like the tip cut off by a bill? I am unsure, but I took a photo of that too. Also found a bird breast bone, but I didn't get a photo of that one.