Oh the heck with it! Unidentified Accipiter.

[urbpan]

I was positive when I encountered this bird, perched above my car, conspicuously near my neighbor's birdfeeders, that I was seeing my first definite sharp-shinned hawk Accipiter striatus. I've seen plenty of Cooper's hawks Accipiter cooperii, a slightly larger dead ringer for the sharp-shinned. Females of both species are much larger than males, so male Coops and female sharpies actually come pretty close to the same size. The bird pictured here is just an inch or so longer than a blue jay. I still think it's a sharpie, but when you're talking with bird people you'd better have a DNA sample handy if you want to avoid a controversy

Comments

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

It's got Sharpie toes. Coopers' have shorter thicker toes, I think you're right.

[bill_sheehan.livejournal.com]

Sorry, all I have is "Beautiful Bird!"

[lyosha.livejournal.com]

It's got a Coop's tail and eye placement, though. Tough one.

[yummykit.livejournal.com]

i'd almost lean toward cooper's hawk based on the tail and general look of the head (including eye placement). but it's really tough to tell sometimes, that's for sure!

[bosoxmom.livejournal.com]

I don't know what it is, but it's beautiful!!! Great picture too.

[wyrtweard.livejournal.com]

Without any way to scale this one, I would say it is a Cooper's Hawk based on the tail alone being more rounded and showing more white at the tip than would a Sharpie. The head is also proportionally larger than one would see on a Sharpie. I've held a Sharpie in my hand and they are not exactly the big boys of the raptor world. Here's a pic of a Sharpie that was protecting its kill: note the size of the head.

[(Anonymous)]

Here's a great summary of the differences between Cooper's and Sharp-shinned Hawks:

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw/AboutBirdsandFeeding/accipiterIDtable.htm

This bird is a Cooper's Hawk.