I live in the south bay area of Los Angeles county along the coast. In the past few years the coopers hawks have become more and more common. In my first 55 years in this area I may have spotted less than a dozen. I can go out any day of the week now and easily spot a dozen working the parks, cemetaries, neighborhoods, industrail parks etc. The small sparrow hawk has all but disappeared. The coops have always been relatively common is so cal but not this area. Doves seem to be their favorite food while pigeons rank a close second. We have always hadd good populations of both doves and pigeons. The only real change I can see is the last remaining fields have finally disappeared. Red tailed hawks have held their own but are greatly deminished.
Any theories as to why we have so many more coopers hawks this past 5 or 6 years, with more every year?