Outdoor Ontario

Discussion => General Discussions => Topic started by: stephenH on May 08, 2009, 01:14:31 PM

Title: Cooper's or Sharp Shinned
Post by: stephenH on May 08, 2009, 01:14:31 PM

Having a tough time IDing a hawk that's been around my backyard in Etobicoke.  In fact, it's become a birding frustration.  This hawk has been here for about a month now.  I back onto a conservation area.   Like all the books say, it's often difficult to decide between a small Cooper's and a large Sharp Shinned.  I've been over and over several good field books--every time it shows up--and I keep favouring Cooper's.  But, then I see that Cooper's are uncommon.  So, here are my questions:  How rare is a Cooper's Hawk in the GTA?  Has anyone seen a Cooper's here recently?

Title:
Post by: Pat Hodgson on May 08, 2009, 03:07:12 PM

According to the atlas data, both have increased quite a bit in the GTA in the last 20 years, so this won't help with ID'ing it.
http://www.birdsontario.org/atlas/maps.jsp?lang=en (pick species from drop-down list)