Stats

Lifespan: 8-12 yrs
Size: Medium
Diet: Carnivore
Activity: Diurnal
Social: Solitary
Biome: Temperate forest
Range: North America
Movement: Flight
Breeding: Egg-laying
Defense: Speed
Status: Common

About

A long-tailed forest accipiter that hunts songbirds in fast, weaving chases through dense cover, often crashing through brush to seize prey. Adults wear slate-blue backs and finely barred rusty underparts, with a darker cap that contrasts sharply against pale cheeks.

Life cycle

1.
egg
One or two eggs are incubated on a high stick nest or cliff ledge, guarded closely by the pair.
2.
hatchling
A downy hatchling is fed torn meat by its parents and grows quickly in a high nest.
3.
juvenile
A feathered juvenile fledges from the nest, learning to soar and to make its first kills.
4.
adult
Fully grown, hunting on its own with adult plumage.

Learn more

Taxonomy

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Accipitriformes
Family: Accipitridae
Genus: Astur
Species: Astur cooperii