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FORAGING HABITS Cooper's hawks hunt from inconspicuous perches where they may take their prey by surprise. The prey are usually captured with a short dash from the perch. Small mammals and medium-size birds comprise the major portion of their diet. Cooper's hawks use "plucking posts" during the breeding season. These "posts" are favored perches where they take prey items to be partially dismembered or defeathered before taking them to the nest. These "plucking posts"can be used as good indicators of nearby nesting activity(Evans, 1982). THREATS AND MANAGEMENY CONCERNS Cooper's hawks have suffered severe population declines throughout their historic range in the United States. The principal causes of these declines have been reported to be habitat loss and pesticide poisoning. Reduction of riparian forests in California has lead to alarming reductions in potential Cooper's hawk nesting and foraging habitat. Pesticide contamination and the unrestricted poisoning of prey species are recognized as significant secondary conservation concerns for migrant birds outside the continental U.S. (Evans, 1982). In California and other western states, intensive management of coniferous forests produces large areas of monotypic habitat (Evans, 1982). These monotypic habitats exhibit a reduced availability of prey species and nest sites. Although the quantitative significance of this resource base restriction has not yet been established, resource managers and conservationists are carefully monitoring Cooper's hawk populations in old growth and managed forest habitats. SELECTED REFERENCES Beedy, Edward C. and Stephen L. Granholm. 1985. Discovering Sierra Birds. Yosemite Natural History Association and Sequoia Natural History Association. 229 pp. Bent, Arthur C. 1938. Life histories of North American birds of prey (part 1). U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 170: viii +409 pp. California Department of Fish and Game. 1987. Special animals. Natural Diversity Data Base. 18 pp. Ehrlich, Paul R., David S. Dobkin and Darryl Wheye. 1988. The Birder's Handbook. Simon and Schuster,Inc.,New York. 798 pp. Evans, David L. 1982. Status reports on twelve raptors. U.S. Dept. of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service, Special Scientific Report- Wildlife No. 238, Washington. 68 pp. Fitch, Henry, Ben Glading and Verl House. 1946. Observations on Cooper hawk nesting and predation. Calif. Fish and Game 32: 108-154. Forsman,Eric D. 1980. Accipiter management on the Fremont National Forest. Fremont National Forest, Lakeview,Oregon. 28 pp.