[mou] Cooper's Hawk in South Minneapolis

[Robert Metcalf]

Thank you everyone for the follow-up on identifying the hawk in my 
backyard. The smaller hawk is definitely not a Sharp-Shinned Hawk; it's as 
large as a crow and the large one is half again as large.

Around 4:00pm this afternoon I watched the smaller one (from a second floor 
window) sitting on my backyard fence devouring what looked like a freshly 
caught woodpecker. It had just plucked it clean and was going for the neck 
when I saw it. I watched it for about 20 minutes. It took the kill to two 
more trees over the course of 30 minutes and then returned to my backyard 
where I was able to watch it for close to an hour.

The question is, and I'm not sure how to ask it: are these birds 
territorial or do they roam a lot. I'm trying to figure out if I'm going to 
be seeing them this Spring and Summer. Is my neighborhood (52nd and 
Humboldt Ave S) home or do they roam in large areas?

Robert Metcalf.