3. Internship Experiences
• Birds Department
• Kitchen & Incubation
• Bird Gardens
• Pheasant Run
• Duck Lake & Flamingos
• Off Exhibit Facility (OEF)
• Attwater’s Prairie Chicken & NASA
4. Highlights!!!
• Habitat Construction
• Animal Nutrition
• Veterinary Care
• Behavioral Analysis
• Reproduction and
• Egg Incubation and
Chick Brooding
• Animal Training and
Enrichment
6. Birds of Texas
• My Backyard: 20+ species
• Herman Park: 150+ species
• The Houston Zoo: 250+ species
• Houston Metropolitan Area: 250+ species
• The Lone Star State
• Over 620 species documented
• No other state in the United States has more bird species
• Nearly 75% of all United States bird species recorded in Texas
Notable Species:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SD8nHfLYmPE
8. Overview
• Medium-sized native
Accipiter
• Nicknames: big blue
darter, chicken hawk,
flying cross, hen hawk,
quail hawk, Mexican hawk
striker, and swift hawk.
Accipiter cooperii
9. Physical Characteristics
• Mass: 220 to 440 g
• Length: 35 to 50 cm
• Wingspan: 62 to 94 cm
• Color Primary: Gray, Rufous or
Rust
• Underparts: White with orange
barring.
• Upperparts: Blue-gray
• Back Pattern: Solid
• Belly Pattern: Barred or banded
• Breast Pattern: Barred or
banded
• Enlarged Tarsus bones
• Sexual Dimorphism & Regional
Variations
10. Cooper’s or Sharpie?
Although the coloration is generally somewhat similar between Sharp-shinned
hawks and Cooper's hawks, Cooper's appear broader-chested and larger-
headed, with generally more robust features. The crow-like size of Cooper's
hawks is sometimes distinctive from the sharp-shinned.
11. Behavior – Hunting
• Rely on cover and perching to
deliver swift, stealthy attack
• Cornell Lab of Ornithology Study
• Examined 300 Cooper's hawk
skeletons and 23% revealed
healed fractures in the bones of
the chest, especially the furcula
• Prey mainly on small-mid sized
birds, including American Kestrel
• Also prey upon insects, rodents,
small reptiles and some mammals
Typical prey species include American robins, other thrushes, jays,
woodpeckers, European starlings, quail, icterids, cuckoos, pigeons and doves.
12. Behavior – Breeding Breeding Location: Forest edge
Breeding Type: Monogamous, Solitary
nester
Breeding Population: around 700,000
individuals
Egg Color: Pale blue or white
Clutch Size: 4 - 5
Incubation Days: 32 - 36
Egg Incubator: Both sexes
Nest Material: Lined with
chips, outer bark strips.
Condition at
Hatching: Helpless and
covered in white down.
13.
14. Behavior - Nesting
The nests are around 70 cm (28 in) in diameter and 15–43 cm (5.9–16.9
in) high with a cup-shaped depression in the middle that is 20 cm (8 in)
across and 10 cm (4 in) deep.
Nests are built in pines, oaks, Douglas firs, beeches, spruces, and other
tree species usually on flat ground rather than on a hillside. The nests
typically are about 7.6–15.1 m (25–50 ft) high off the ground, halfway up
the tree.
15. Friend or Foe?
• Past encounters have proved
interactions between our Zoo’s
collection birds and native
Cooper’s hawks to be disastrous.
• Bruce’s Green Pigeons
• African Collared Doves
• Plush-crested Jays
• Historically,
misinterpretation of
the name "chicken
hawk" has labelled
these birds as pests,
hence justifying their
slaughter.
16. Friend or Foe?
• Serve vital ecological role as
regulators of “pest” species
such as rodents and snakes.
• Trichomoniasis, is commonly
spread by Mourning doves.
• Mice and rats can cause
damage to birds, exhibit
enclosures, and often
jeopardize welfare of
collection birds.
• Natural pest control can help
save the zoo costs associated
with aforementioned
problems.
17. Solutions?
• Installation of double netting on
targeted enclosures?
• Softer inner-enclosure surfaces?
• Humane trapping?
• Installation of bird feeders in
other areas of the Zoo?
• Cooping chickens at night?
• Determination and sytematic
patrolling of hotspots?
20. Special Thanks!!!
• Birds Team Interns, Keepers, and Supervisors!
• Volunteer and Education Department!
• All Zoo Staff Members and Conservationists !
