Yippee! Found the new Cooper's Hawk nest at Maplewood Park!

[Bird Brain]

Hi everyone.  I was walking around Maplewood Park today between 11am to 12:30pm.

At 11:45am, I was looking up at last year's nest and all of a sudden heard loud "cacking", shrieking, etc. behind me.  Turned to see the female Cooper's Hawk sitting on a branch, giving me the stare down and making all sorts of sounds.

Then the male appeared and was making interesting sounds as well.  Then he was flying back & forth from the new nest with branches and twigs in his beak.  He then kept sitting inside the new nest, walking around, building and constructing it further.  The female then flew close by to the nest.  Very exciting!  

How to describe where the new nest is? ...

If you're parked on the East side of Glen Erin close to the wooden Maplewood Park sign, go to the edge of the woods and walk along the edge heading North (left).  You'll see 2 large pine trees, a small green electrical box, a large green electrical box with yellow sticker on it and a small tree stump.  Anyhow, if you look into the woods and up, hopefully you'll see the new nest!

If not ...

Stand by last year's nest and you might see and hear the male and female, perhaps even see the male travelling back & forth between the new nest and the woods.   Last year's nest is on the South side of the trail - new nest is in the NW corner, close to Glen Erin Dr. and close to houses.  

Other sightings:

Cardinal (male ) x 1
Hairy Woodpecker (male) x 1
House Sparrows - lots

[Reuven_M]

Very cool, I should look in Riverwood

[Luv2Bird]

Great report Jo-anne. Planned to go there at lunch tomorrow.

[Bird Brain]

Reuven ... did you see the nest there last year?  

Sue ... my mom & I were at Maplewood Park this afternoon from 2-3pm.  No hawk activity.  Mainly just sighted a male Cardinal, lots of Crows, a couple of Red-breasted Nuthatches, a White-breasted Nuthatch and lots of House Sparrows.

[Luv2Bird]

Interesting that you didn't see them. Maybe they were hunting somewhere. I hope they will be there tomorrow when I go.

[Bird Brain]

Sue ... the Crows were agitated so the hawks must have been somewhere in the area.   :lol:  

btw - they're testing the fire alarms in my building tomorrow.  You'll probably hear them all the way up at Maplewood!

[Reuven_M]

Reuven ... did you see the nest there last year?  

Sue ... my mom & I were at Maplewood Park this afternoon from 2-3pm.  No hawk activity.  Mainly just sighted a male Cardinal, lots of Crows, a couple of Red-breasted Nuthatches, a White-breasted Nuthatch and lots of House Sparrows.

Yes, no signs of activity at it that I've seen yet this year, but I don't know if they will reuse nests?

[ostrich]

I dropped by the park early this evening to check out the area and locate the new nest - the only stick nest I could see is one in an upper crotch of a tree in the NW area,  but it's maybe about 20 yards or so south and east inside from the very NW corner of the woods,  so I assume that is it.  It's going to be a lot harder to find it once the foliage comes in - I spent a bit of time walking around the woods to get an idea how to find it again once all the foliage is filled in.  

  This new nest looks even smaller than last year's was,  I was surprised they could fit four young in last year's one - I don't know how they would manage that this year.  Unfortunately this year's is also quite a bit higher so it will be harder to see anything up there I think.  I walked around the rest of the park briefly but didn't see any sign of the adults - there was a squirrel sitting up in the old nest.

[Bird Brain]

ostrich ... Yes, the new nest is smaller and higher up.  

Did you see my thread from yesterday "Active Cooper's Hawks at Maplewood Park"?