Cooper Hawk Eats a Flammulated Screech Owl
Cooper Hawk Eats a Flammulated Screech Owl
On August 31, 1934, a female Cooper Hawk, Accipiter cooperii, was killed at the Berry Ranch on the south boundary of Grand Canyon National Park, Coconino County, Arizona. During the preparation of the bird as a study skin, I noted the stomach was full; examination revealed the flesh, feathers, feet, and bones of a Flammulated Screech Owl, Otus flammeolus. The stomach contents were sent to the Museum of Veitebrate Zoology, Berkeley, California, where identification was verified by Joseph Grinnell and Alden H. Miller. I do not know of a previous record of the Cooper Hawk eating this species of owl. The Flammulated Screech Owl has been recorded in Grand Canyon National Park only three times. The hawk, containing the owl here recorded, was taken just outside the south boundary of the Park. The Cooper Hawk is now number B-75 in the Grand Canyon National Park collection, and the remains of the owl are preserved in the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, Berkeley.
A. E. Borell
Wildlife Division, National Park Service, Santa Fe, New Mexico, September 30, 1936
