I’ve been anticipating the annual late fall / early winter return of Cooper’s Hawks to downtown Holyoke and, with that in mind, I set out today to see if I could find any.

After striking out in Heritage State Park — a place where I often find at least one this time of year — I headed over to the city’s Churchill neighborhood. I parked at the Lawrence Playground near corner of Chestnut and Hampshire streets, and immediately found a few kids looking at something on a chain-link fence. It was an immature Cooper’s Hawk, with a freshly killed pigeon.

The hawk soon flew to a telephone pole in a nearby alley and, after losing its balance, to the snow-covered roof of a garage.

Below, a few photos, and a short video.