Cooper's Hawk, male, molting to first basic, Summer 2012 Photo Gallery by Tom Grey at pbase.com

Cooper's Hawk, male, molting to first basic, Summer 2012

A year-old Cooper's Hawk visited our backyard fountain in the summer of 2012 as it was molting from its juvenile to adult (more precisely, first basic) plumage. The bluish cast to the adult upperparts feathers marks it as a male.

Cooper's Hawk, juvenile	Cooper's Hawk, juvenile	Cooper's Hawk, male, molting to first basic	Cooper's Hawk, male, molting to first basic
Cooper's Hawk, male, molting to first basic	Cooper's Hawk, mostly molted to first basic	Cooper's Hawk, male, first basic*	Cooper's Hawk, first basic
Cooper's Hawk, first basic	Cooper's Hawk, molting, June-Sept 2012

comment |

Tom Grey		13-Mar-2013 20:33
Thanks for the kind words about the shots. On terminology, I'm going with what I think is still more familiar among birders, treating Basic I as the first after juvenal; it's reflected in the Cooper's Hawk entry in Birds of North America Online: "Basic I Plumage "Prebasic I molt complete (occasionally a few brown feathers on rump or scapulars retained) at approximately 11–16 mo. " This is the original H-P system, and I understand the arguments of Howell and others for the "modified H-P" from which your comment issues, but I think the way I put it is still more familiar, and so less likely to confuse.

Guest		12-Mar-2013 00:10
The molt is actually to second basic plumage. First basic is from downy fledgling to juvenile plumage. Great shots!

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