To birders, “looking through the glass” refers to binoculars. Wildlife photographer Glen Apseloff, however, thinks of the phrase as referring to the windows of his house. Using a handheld camera without a flash or special filters, he has photographed enough birds from inside his house, through closed windows, to create two books. Some of the photographs and text in this slideshow can be found in his more recent book, Backyard Birds and More—Looking Through the Glass. All of the birds in this slideshow, like all of those in his books, were taken through closed windows from inside his home in a suburb of Columbus, Ohio.
He wrote each of the captions in the following slideshow.
Cooper’s Hawks are common predators around backyard feeders and can be seen year-round throughout most of the U.S. Because of this, other birds are more inclined to spend time on and near feeders when there are plenty of trees and shrubs nearby.
Cooper’s Hawks are sometimes confused with Sharp-shinned Hawks, but the former are larger with a larger head, thicker legs, and a more rounded tail. Cooper’s Hawks are about the size of crows. Their wingspan ranges from approximately 30 to 37 inches, and females tend to be larger than males. Juveniles have yellow eyes, and these change to orange and red as the birds grow older.
The oldest documented Cooper’s Hawk in the wild was at least 20 years and 4 months old. It was banded in California in 1986 and found dead in Washington in 2006.
Read our newsletter!
Sign up for our free e-newsletter to receive news, photos of birds, attracting and ID tips, and more delivered to your inbox.
Sign Up for Free
