Quite by accident I found myself caught up in some Russell Park raptor rumblings on an otherwise placid afternoon in early July. Russell Park is on Medicine Bow Court in the Westlake Hills neighborhood of Thousand Oaks.

Some area residents had noticed a quartet of fledgling Cooper’s hawks at the park. This species, one of our smaller raptors, is comfortable in leafy suburban settings, and the adult hawks had built their nest in one of the park’s tall ash trees.

The Cooper’s hawk is easily ...