Help with Hawk I.D.

[Moira]

Is this a Sharp-Shinned Hawk?  I was driving along the 401 in Whitby and saw this bird sitting on the hillside.  I thought it would fly before I could get to it, but tried anyway.  It was sitting about halfway down a small hill.  As you can see, the angle I was at I couldn't get a full body shot.  When I took that last step that he wasn't comfortable with he walked away and I lost sight of him.  There were a bunch of feathers and remains of a late breakfast on the hillside.

[skyviewer]

i would say you are correct on the sharp shinned.  What size was it?  Crow size or bluejay size?
Nice pic by the way

[Moira]

More like crow size.

[skyviewer]

Well then i would say its a Coopers definitely.  i also looked back at some pics i have of both a sharpie and a coopers and the barring and colouring looks more like a coopers.

Sharpie
http://outdoorontario.net/birds/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=4380&highlight=skyviewer

Coopers
http://outdoorontario.net/birds/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=4241&highlight=coopers

[Moira]

Thanks for the help.

[mr.sharp-photo]

Well then i would say its a Coopers definitely.  i also looked back at some pics i have of both a sharpie and a coopers and the barring and colouring looks more like a coopers.

Sharpie
http://outdoorontario.net/birds/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=4380&highlight=skyviewer

Coopers
http://outdoorontario.net/birds/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=4241&highlight=coopers

you seem to know your birds.
i was going to post this before but i might as well ask you.
there must be a quickie way to differentiate between all the hawks - mature and juvies - when in flight and perched.

i'm pretty much stuck labelling all of them as red-tailed hawks.

[Bluffs Birder]

there must be a quickie way to differentiate between all the hawks - mature and juvies - when in flight and perched.

I find 'bird' books to be most useful for this purpose, Sibley's and Peterson's are amoung my favourites.  If it's just Hawks you want to identify, there are many excellent books for that purpose too.  Also, try searching the internet using phrases such as 'hawk identification' or even 'identifying hawks of ontario'.

Walter  

[Luv2Bird]

I'm confused now .. I posted a hawk pic a few days ago and everyone said it's a juvenile Coopers .. but he has a yellow eye and different pattern on the chest than your bird.  Yours has a very dark eye which I thought was a Sharpie.
I know it's difficult to differentiate Sharpies n Coopers  .... any thougths?

[thouc]

This is an adult bird. Both Cooper's and Sharp-shinned have dark eyes as adults.

/Thomas

[Luv2Bird]

Thanks Thomas  ... the Cooper's that I shot has light eyes and different barring (more up n down rather than alll across) ... I'm pretty sure it's a juvie Cooper's.

[Scott]

Probably the hardest problem with hawk ID's is between Coopers & Sharp Shinned Hawks and especially between female Sharpies & male Coopers as their sizes are about the same.  Because of the darker cap & lighter neck I think Moira's bird is a Coopers (the Sharpies tend to have less distinction between the cap & the neck).  My favourite book for hawk ID's is "Hawks from Every Angle; How to Identify Raptors In Flight" by Jerry Liguori....its an excellent book.