A farmer captured heartwarming footage of a Cooper's hawk visiting their garden.
Garden Friends Farm (@gardenfriendsfarm) shared their excitement on TikTok, and the video won the hearts of fellow native gardeners.
@gardenfriendsfarm Yeee-Hawk! We spotted a 🦅 Cooper's hawk at Garden Friends Farm! A reminder that when you grow a garden, you grow an ecosystem 🌱 Predators, pollinators, and everything in between—nature is always watching. #coopershawk #gardenfriendsfarm #nature #birdofprey #suburbanfarm ♬ original sound - Johnny Tsunami 🌊
"We spotted a Cooper's hawk at Garden Friends Farm!" the creator shared enthusiastically in the caption. "A reminder that when you grow a garden, you grow an ecosystem."
The clip shows a tan-bellied hawk sitting on a broken tree limb in the middle of a restored wildlife habitat. The hawk appears to be in a relaxed state, shown closing its eyes and lowering its head into its feathers.
Cooper's hawks are common across North America. They gravitate towards wooded areas with tall trees and openings, or among trees near rivers. According to the National Audubon Society, they are also commonly found in the suburbs and in cities with tall trees.
They are prolific hunters, known for their explosive speed and unmatched stealth, which help them feed on small- to medium-sized birds, including pigeons, robins, jays, and quails, as well as smaller ground-dwelling mammals, including squirrels, chipmunks, mice, and bats. Cooper's hawks occasionally prey on insects and small reptiles, such as small- or medium-sized lizards and snakes.
These hawks play an important role in ecosystem balance, helping to control prey populations. As such, they are great for natural rodent and pest management.
Creating or restoring wildlife habitats in natural spaces is a surefire way to attract unique wildlife visitors to your lawn. For example, a gardener in Australia found a bandicoot burrowing in their front garden. These native Australian marsupials are great at deterring pests naturally.
Elsewhere, an empathetic gardener in the U.K. left out bowls of water for local wildlife during a heatwave, which brought a beautiful young fox to their garden.
You can attract beneficial creatures to your outdoor space by upgrading your lawn to a native plant oasis. Native plants are acclimated to the local climate and are slower-growing. They are generally more drought-tolerant than typical monoculture grass lawns and require much less water and effort to maintain.
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