OBITUARY: Hoyt Cooper Hawk

Hoyt Hawk, age approximately three months, died sometime Saturday, July 20, 2019 in the Jahnke's backyard, Alden, MN.
He leaves behind a pair of siblings of the same age and coloring. It is impossible to tell whether they are sisters or brothers, but they behave like dim-witted teenagers. He also leaves behind his parents who are becoming thoroughly exasperated at having to hunt and feed such a brood of large birds of prey.  The family's nest rests in the tallest tree of the yard and shows that Hoyt had not ventured far since learning to fly.  His usual daily activities consisted of flying from the nest to the pines, down to the woodpile and back.  This was much to the chagrin of the numerous wrens nesting nearby and other finches trying to use the centrally located bird feeder. Hoyt's favorite food was small birds and he could be seen making awkward lunges at one on the same branch. But as far as I know he never caught anything himself. He and his brothers enjoyed sitting around looking tough, but would scatter at the sound of their mother's call.

Hoyt was found dead after a bad storm passed through Alden. On finding the body it was able to be determined that he was either a Cooper's Hawk or a Sharp Shinned Hawk. They are nearly identical and hard to tell apart. Many are inclined to think he was a Cooper's, which is larger, but is in fact a threatened species and seldom found nesting in this area.  They are both woodland hawks and southern Minnesota is hardly woodland, so it is possible he was something else entirely and now will never be known.
Hoyt is quite surely not a Buzzard Hawk, because those are know to eat rabbits and rodents. This hawk was quite happy to sit within feet of the rabbits and squirrels without becoming a threat. Baby bunnies hide in the woodpile and flower beds, while squirrels attack the bird feeder.  Not once was Hoyt or his siblings seen to attempt to take one on.  Instead their parents were spotted raiding a martin's bird house and pulling the young from their nests.

It is possible that this act of his parents is part of the cause for his being persecuted and misunderstood. The whole neighborhood were perturbed to find a pair of hawks nesting above the garages and washing lines. We were scandalized to find them eating the adorable yellow finches come spring. The three chicks were shot at with BB guns and shooed away by gardeners. Despite this obvious lack of welcome, they stayed. The chicks grew and grew.  By their size you would hardly imagine them to be immature... until they were seen playing in the rain puddles like carefree kids.
Hoyt's body was discovered by a Jahnke while weeding the garden. It came as a shock after living in such close quarters for the last few months. The cause of death was unknown, but rumors of him being hit by the homeowner with a BB gun have spread. They could hardly leave his feathered body to be carried off by some other vermin, and he was laid to rest in the bed near where he dropped.  This bed is rapidly becoming a cemetery since the untimely death of a large snapping turtle took advantage of the holes being dug to landscape that part of the yard.  May they both rest in peace and fertilize the hostas.