Accipiters

Adult Sharp-shinned Hawk.
Brian Lasenby, Shutterstock.

Adult Cooper’s Hawk.
Eivore Kutchta, Shutterstock.

Adult Northern Goshawk.
Jon Groves.

The genus Accipiter comes from the Latin for hawk (accipere: “to grasp”). Three accipiters breed in North America. They are, from smallest to largest, Sharp-shinned Hawk (Accipiter striatus), Cooper’s Hawk (A. cooperii), and Northern Goshawk (A. gentilis). As with most birds or prey, adult female accipiters are larger than males.

Accipiters have slender bodies, relatively short, broad wings, and long tails, legs, and talons. Accipiters are well adapted for maneuverability and rapid in-flight hunting, able to pursue and grasp prey in dense shrubby habitat, sometimes pursuing them on foot right into the bushes. They mainly hunt other birds but also take small mammals such as rats, squirrels, and rabbits. All three North American accipiter species are diurnal hunters.

This Area is Widget-Ready

You can place here any widget you want!

You can also display any layout saved in Divi Library.

Let’s try with contact form:

Contact

By sharing your email address, URC will send you an update two or three times a year on urban raptor news, research findings, and upcoming events. If you don’t want these emails, you can unsubscribe with one click. URC will never share your contact information.

©2020 Urban Raptor Conservancy

Skip to content