The Cooper's Hawk is a crow-sized woodland raptor that breeds throughout much of the US nad southern Canada and northern Mexico. Like all raptors, the female is larger than the male. Female Cooper's Hawks are about one-third larger which is the greatest size difference between genders in the raptor world.

The adults have red/orange eyes while the juveniles have yellow eyes and pale underparts with thin black streaks. Their eye color changes to orange in second-year birds and then to a vivid red as an adult.