RFI's x3
Outdoor Ontario

Stephen Allen-LaForce

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I would be most grateful if you could have a look at the folder Stephen's Birds and help me try and identify the 3 species that I have taken pictures of.

Many thanks

Stephen
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Stephen Allen-LaForce »


GStuart

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First the easy one.  The small blue, black and white guy with the little pocket handkerchief showing on his wing is a male Black-throated Blue Warbler.

Next, the thrush.  With a reddish tinge to the back half of the bird and a greyer tinge to the head I'll say that bird is a Hermit Thrush.

And now for the hard one.  Obviously it is one of the two smaller accipiters and I'm much more comfortable identifying them in the air.  The Cooper's Hawk is larger, has slower wingbeats, has a larger looking head and the end of the tail seems rounded.  Unfortunately, I can't see any of that in the picture.

There seems to be a clean break between the dark cap and the paler nape which would lean me toward Cooper's Hawk (in Sharp-shinned the dark head tends to fade into the neck resulting in a more "hooded" rather than "capped" appearance).  And the fluffiness around the base of the tail I have seen before in Cooper's and never to the same degree in Sharp-shinned (which doesn't mean that it doesn't happen... just that I've never seen it).  So, I will rather tentatively say Cooper's Hawk.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by GStuart »


Stephen Allen-LaForce

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I have added some more pics of the hawk if that helps at all?

Many thanks

Stephen
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Stephen Allen-LaForce »


Bruce Colvin

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I agree it's a Coopers Hawk. I was fortunate to live in an area where both species were common. Actually these two birds aren't as difficult at all to separate as the field guides say.  I don't know why, but I couldn't get your thumbnails to blow up. It might be a problem with my computer. But the thumbnails show the bird to have sturdy legs, which is typical of the Coopers, while the Legs on the sharpie are pencil thin. Overall the shapie is a scawny little bird with a small head and the Coopers is a robust bird with a larger head. When flying the sharpies looks like a flying T while The Coopers looks like a flying cross. Bruce
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Bruce Colvin »