In Our Backyard
A Look Into Campus Wildlife at Cal State Monterey Bay
By: Jasmine Mirbaha
Welcome to the first edition of In Our Backyard, a look at campus wildlife! In our first issue, we’ll encourage you all to look up at the skies in hopes that you will get a chance to see our first highlighted species: the Cooper’s Hawk.
The Cooper’s hawk (A. cooperii) is a predator bird species that feeds on other birds and small mammals. Our campus at Cal State Monterey Bay stands within its vast territory, giving us ample opportunity to see these hawks in action.
According to All About Birds, the Cooper’s hawk are among the world’s most skillful fliers. They are common in North America and year-round here at Cal State Monterey Bay. Saul Aviles Bernal, an environmentalism major and fellow bird enthusiast here at CSMB state that he uses an app, Merlin, to identify bird species he encounters on campus and he encourages others to do so, too, as the app includes features that allow users to post information about bird sightings in their area.
Cooper’s hawks are a sexually dimorphic species, which means that males and females differ in size and appearance. Female Cooper’s hawks are larger than the males, which makes matchmaking tricky! It can be challenging to woo a lady when you are also the same build as her typical food source, other, smaller birds.
Did you like what you saw? Then, stay tuned for the next edition of In Our Backyard, where we’ll be taking a look at the smaller side of life.
