Hawk ID

[ravynne40]

on my stroll this morning I heard some noises in the woods part of the park and I went to investigate
not sure what type of hawk this is and i'm sorry for the poor picture quality my little camera will only zoom so far! (saving for a bigger zoom!)



and here I thought I would never see one


IreneC.

mod edit: linked to the full-sized pic instead of the thumb-nail.

[Iain]

It would help if you could post larger versions of the images (regardless of whether you'll lose image quality or not) but given the shape of head and beak it is safe to say that this bird is an accipiter.  As for which type of accipiter, I'm leaning towards either a Sharp-shinned or Cooper's hawk purely based on the impression I get that the bird has an orangey cheek and that they are a far more common sighting than Goshawk.  That said, the apparent bulkiness of the bird and lack of detail in the photos leaves room for the latter.  Would you say this bird was smaller larger or around the same size as a crow?

Iain

[Napper]

Come on Irene!

I couldn't resist that

please post larger images of that   Coopers Hawk.

Napper

[ravynne40]

It would help if you could post larger versions of the images (regardless of whether you'll lose image quality or not) but given the shape of head and beak it is safe to say that this bird is an accipiter.  As for which type of accipiter, I'm leaning towards either a Sharp-shinned or Cooper's hawk purely based on the impression I get that the bird has an orangey cheek and that they are a far more common sighting than Goshawk.  That said, the apparent bulkiness of the bird and lack of detail in the photos leaves room for the latter.  Would you say this bird was smaller larger or around the same size as a crow?

Iain

oh goodness the bird was much larger then a crow

the image was much larger somehow when i posted it to the gallery it resized somehow i will try to do it again

IreneC.

[ravynne40]

Come on Irene!

I couldn't resist that

please post larger images of that   Coopers Hawk.

Napper

ok that's funny but but i believe the song was Come on Eileen? LOL

 :wink:

[ravynne40]

on my stroll this morning I heard some noises in the woods part of the park and I went to investigate
not sure what type of hawk this is and i'm sorry for the poor picture quality my little camera will only zoom so far! (saving for a bigger zoom!)



and here I thought I would never see one


IreneC.

mod edit: linked to the full-sized pic instead of the thumb-nail.

[ravynne40]

It would help if you could post larger versions of the images (regardless of whether you'll lose image quality or not) but given the shape of head and beak it is safe to say that this bird is an accipiter.  As for which type of accipiter, I'm leaning towards either a Sharp-shinned or Cooper's hawk purely based on the impression I get that the bird has an orangey cheek and that they are a far more common sighting than Goshawk.  That said, the apparent bulkiness of the bird and lack of detail in the photos leaves room for the latter.  Would you say this bird was smaller larger or around the same size as a crow?

Iain

There was another bird but it had swooped down into the arsenal lands to hunt, i'm presuming and it left this one sitting in the tree, but they were making such a noise before that so i went over to see what the commotion was about, and i found this bird. (this was in Marie Curtis Park on the Mississauga side) I wonder if this bird might be a juvenile?

i just viewed your pictures and it does have a similar tail as your northern goshawk, the tree was too high, the sun was right above me and it was difficult to get a good lighting (high noon is a bad time to take tree top pics, well, for me anyways)


i also saw a baltimore oriole and a cedar waxwing today, such pretty birds!

[Kin Lau]

That all gray chest certainly looks like a Goshawk.

[bernie2112]

That all gray chest certainly looks like a Goshawk.

Since you saw it at Marie Curtis I would tend to think it is a young Cooper's hawk.

Cheers,

Bernie

[Iain]

Thanks for reposting in a larger format Irene.  The bird is almost certainly an adult Cooper's Hawk.   I say almost because the only other species it could really be is sharp-shinned (but they are smaller than crows).  I think Goshawk is ruled out given the lack of a white eyebrow in the second pic and the chest pattern which is typical of adult Cooper's (and sharp-shinned).  I don't think this is a young bird as the chest plumage in young accipiters is much more noticeably streaked and vertical (as with all accipiters, also ruling out immature Goshawk).  I also don't think that the chest is gray, rather a dull orange/brown tinge which doesnt show well in these photos/light and is suggestive of a female rather than male.  

Anyways, just my two cents.

Iain

[ravynne40]

Thank you all, I have never seen a live hawk before so this is all new for me, its amazing we can live in lovely surroundings and never really notice the small things like birds, flowers or bugs!
I will certainly keep my eyes open for these hawks, and hopefully I will be able to get a nicer picture. I have also picked up some birding books that I will be studying (did you guys know they have books on just Warblers??? is there really that many of them?)

anyways, I am looking forward to going to High Park in August to Hawk Hill..has anyone gone there? Are there many of them?


IreneC.