Birds of Cooper
Quite a few ornithologists out there have two or more birds named in their honor: J. J. Audubon, Thomas Brewer, John Cassin and Alexander Wilson. Many others have a single species named for them. As examples are the Nuttall Woodpecker, Swainson’s Hawk and the Cooper’s Hawk. This story is actually about two men named Cooper and one hawk.
The Cooper’s Hawk is named for William Cooper, a New York scientist, whose son (James Graham Cooper) is the namesake of the Cooper Ornithological Society. According to Wikipedia, William Cooper studied zoology in Europe from 1821 to 1824, and afterwards travelled to North America via Nova Scotia, Kentucky and the Bahamas in his expeditions to collect bird and sea shell specimens.
Although he was not an author in his own right, Cooper’s specimens were of great help to others, such as John James Audubon, Charles Lucien Bonaparte and Thomas Nuttall. [1]
Cooper was one of the founders of the New York Lyceum of Natural History (later the New York Academy of Sciences), and the first American member of the Zoological Society of London. Bonaparte named the Cooper’s hawk for him, after Cooper collected a specimen of the raptor in 1828.
Closely resemble, but are larger than Sharp-shinned Hawks (Accipiter striatus). Cooper’s Hawks eye color changes from bluish-gray in nestlings, to yellow, in young adults and then to red in older adults. Among the bird world’s most skillful fliers, Cooper’s Hawks are common woodland hawks that tear through cluttered tree canopies in high speed pursuit of other birds. You’re most likely to see one prowling above a forest edge or field using just a few stiff wingbeats followed by a glide.
Cooper Bird Club
The Cooper Ornithological Society (COS), formerly known as the Cooper Ornithological Club, was an American ornithological society affiliate. First founded in 1893 in California, the society operatedfor 123 years until it merged in 2016.
Its Cooper moniker commemorated James Graham Cooper, an early California biologist. It published the ornithological journal The Condor and the monograph series Studies in Avian Biology (formerly Pacific Coast Avifauna). It presented the annual Loye and Alden Miller Research Award, which is given for lifetime achievement in ornithological research and was a member of the Ornithological Council.
The aims of the Cooper Ornithological Society were the scientific study of birds, the dissemination of ornithological knowledge, the encouragement and spread of interest in the study of birds, and the conservation of birds and wildlife in general.
In October 2016 the Cooper Ornithological Society officially merged with the American Ornithologists’ Union to form the American Ornithological Society, based in Chicago, Illinois. The combined society continues to present the Loye and Alden Miller Research Award.[2] [3]
Name Changes Ahead
As of this writing, 2025, many of the birds which have been named for people, will have those designations scrubbed from the record books. Stay tuned to the future names, as they may surprise you.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Cooper_(conchologist)
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooper_Ornithological_Society
Henry E. Hooper 