Sharp Shinned or Cooper's Hawk?

[yourlibrarian]

We were startled to see this raptor out on our balcony yesterday. We've seen Coopers Hawks here before but this bird was gray rather than brown and seemed smaller. I was particularly struck by its red eyes.



larnvidia over on Pillowfort suggested this was a Sharp Shinned Hawk and that seems likely to me. It was also exciting as I've not seen one in the area before. I suppose it might be passing through.



You can see its eye color particularly well above.



It stayed for several minutes, seeming to be rather relaxed.



I imagine it was attracted to the sparrows and finches who visit our food plate, especially since they are now gathering on the roof rather than a nearby tree because we lost that a month ago.

Comments

[shirebound]

Great shots! It gave you a fascinating gaze there.

[yourlibrarian]

I only wish we'd had the blinds up. Normally they're never up but as it happens we were clearing space next to the windows in order to clean them that morning. But before we could get to the blinds the hawk appeared.

Still, we were way closer than we can usually get!

[boxofdelights]

My first thought was Swainson's Hawk, but they have dark brown eyes. How big would you say it was? Cooper's Hawks are about the size of a crow. Sharp-shinned are smaller. Swainson's are bigger.

Also the Swainson's are not likely to be alone this time of year; they are kettling in big groups to get ready for migration, or have already left for Argentina.

[yourlibrarian]

If Cooper's Hawks are the size of a crow then either we have large hawks or small crows because those birds are closer to two feet. This one was under that -- bigger than a foot, less than 2.

[cmcmck]

Good to see one so close up!

[yourlibrarian]

It was a wonderfully unexpected visit!

[vriddy]

Woah!! That is so cool, I'd be rather surprised to see them this close, too!!

[yourlibrarian]

I don't imagine it would have come by had we been out there, which would probably have been too close. So this was just the right degree of it 😉

[morrow]

Great snaps!

[yourlibrarian]

Thanks!

[citrakayah]

Amazing shots.

Wonder why they're called that.

[yourlibrarian]

It's a curious name, isn't it?

[sparowe]

Oh wow! Amazing over the shoulder shot, too! :D

[yourlibrarian]

Haha, yes, we'd been made then.

[dantesspirit]

That's a Cooper's Hawk. The brown ones you see are likely juveniles.

The eyes are the biggest tell. They otherwise look very similar to Sharp Shinned.

Here's a comparison for you.

Also, the Merlin Bird ID app by Cornell Labs is *amazingly* good. You can id birds by their songs or by photos.

[yourlibrarian]

Hoping this goes through as DW has been having issues today and I tried twice before...

Those are definitely two very similar birds alright! I agree that given the size reference and some of the other differences that it's likely a Cooper's hawk.

Those references are confusing though. A crow is definitely larger than a jay, but not on the same magnitude as this hawk and a crow. So the difference between these two birds should be stark close up (though tough to distinguish at a distance).

[dantesspirit]

Lots of sites are having issues today, it seems.

Smaller than the average Crow may indicate that you have a male there, since they tend to be smaller than the females.

Unless of course, your Crows and Blue Jays are like mine and very well fed. LOL.

I'll have to see if I can find the photo my niece took of our resident Cooper's Hawk on a fence post.

[adore]

♡♡♡

[yourlibrarian]

\o/ \o/ \o/

Wow!

[ysabetwordsmith]

How exciting!

I've seen a hawk swoop past our feeder and miss all 2 dozen sparrows at it. Then land in a tree with pronounced "I meant to do that" body language. LOL

Re: Wow!

[yourlibrarian]

Haha!