Our Juvenile Cooper's Hawk

Lately, a series of piercingly loud cak-cak-cak sounds interrupt the quiet reverie of my garden puttering. Usually it is when I am rummaging about amongst my vegetable plants and when I search for the source of this cacophony, it is a juvenile Cooper's Hawk who is looking down at me from the top bare branches of a half-dead eucalyptus tree. Bruce and I have discussed chopping down this barely living eucalyptus sentinel, but have decided not to because its barren branches serve as a look-out and resting place for red tail and Cooper's hawks as well as mourning doves, scrub jays, mocking birds and phainopeplas. Our juvenile Cooper's hawk is almost full-grown at 18-inches long with an impressive 24-inch wingspan and he has been a daily visitor to the garden for several months. He is a handsome bird with his long tail marked at the end with distinctive dark bands, puffy, speckled brown chest and alert, red-ringed eyes. I would like to think he is a regular visitor because he prefers to perch and visit with me, but it is probably because this is a perfect vantage point to spot a tasty prey.