Sharp-shinned or Cooper's

[Carma Sue Henry]

I don't seem to able to make direct links to vids from my phone, so you'll have to copy/paste ... sorry

Link to vid on OneDrive:

https://1drv.ms/v/s!AkhdiK0NPwwKg9c5dIaTLnxmQB3j_w

In the seemingly never-ending quest to learn these two birds... I had thought our regular visitor was a Sharpie, though I think both spp come in at times.  I really thought I had the ID down, until this one came in on Thursday! 

Longish neck, more rounded tail with well defined white bottom band.  Head, though, isn't really squared off and it has the light eyebrow.  And size?  It's exactly 10.5" between the peak of each arch on the feeder pole, so it must be close to 12-13".  

After sitting on the feeder for about 5 mins (waiting, I'm sure, for me to get my camera so it could confound us all), it snuck back into the interior of the Spruce where it stayed for another five minutes or so, constantly looking for movement below.  Just as my battery died it made a beautiful dive through the branches and a slow wing-flap retreat low across the field towards the woods.

This is the link to a juvie visitor from last year 7-6-21: 

https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipNsj7f-2WKA5sHO2qphYRhEKt76BwuCgQ4owJIf

The bird bath pan in this video is 18" x 26" x 3.5".

I could just give up and say "a Sharp/Coop came to lunch today".  

Carma Henry

Logsdon Ridge

[Lisa Millbank]

That's a good shot of a Cooper's Hawk, although it can be a real challenge to tell them apart.  Even if you know them well, there are times when you just have to say Accipiter and leave it at that.  The plumage is variable, and the end of the tail is usually a good clue, but can also vary individually, by wear on the feathers, by subspecies and by sex, especially among Sharpies.

In this case, you can see the Cooper's Hawk's strong, thick legs, where a Sharpie's legs are noticeably thin and stick-like.  Also there is a gray area on the nape, so the dark crown forms a cap, unlike in the Sharpie, whose nape has about the same color as the crown and back, forming a hood.  The video shows the end of the tail is quite rounded with a white terminal band, although the band can sometimes wear down.  Cooper's Hawks (although not in this video or photo) often raise their hackles which makes their heads look squared-off.  Cooper's Hawks usually have pale plumage right around their eye (gray to rufous) while Sharpies often have a dark patch around the eye.  Some adult Sharpies have a thin pale "eyebrow" that extends behind the eye, but some don't.  An adult Cooper's often has a gray "brow ridge" but it doesn't go past the eye.  A lot of Cooper's Hawks have a kind of burly and robust look while the Sharpie is slim and more delicate.

Of course, chances are you can't see any of these characteristics when one speeds past you!  Even then there are a few field marks to look for in flight, but in a lot of cases nobody can say with certainty what just went by.

Here is an article we published with a comparison page, if that may be helpful: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JmQN8RdpniVTmE2CqG3sKem-1-p_T-4J/view

Lisa Millbank

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[Olin Allen]

Yes, an adult male Coops.  Males have a gray cheek that is brown in females.  And the gray back has a definite bluish cast, whereas in females it is brownish.

 

Keep in mind that when perched, male Coops don’t look much bigger than female sharpies unless side by side.  But when they fly they look much larger in the wings and tail.  Although all accipiters are long-tailed, Coops have proportionately the longest tails, often comprising about half their overall length (if you measure all the way in to the base of the tail, which is often obscured by body feathers).

 

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Olin Allen

Monmouth OR

olin...@earthlink.net

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[Lisa Millbank]

We got a copy of Brian K. Wheeler's new book Birds of Prey of the West, and we were surprised to learn how variable some of the plumage of Cooper's Hawks can be (along with the other Accipiters). His book says that apparently, males can have rufous cheeks (especially when young) and females' cheeks are often gray to gray-brown, although I had previously read the same thing about females having rufous/brown cheeks and males having gray cheeks.  Maybe it's less reliable than I thought for determining sex. I attached a page from the guide, and figures a, b, d, j, l, m, o and p are males, with d probably being most typical.  C, e, f, g, q and r are females.

I had said earlier that the "eyebrow" marking doesn't extend behind the eye on adult Cooper's Hawks.  Well, that's partially wrong, because as you can see in the illustrations, they occasionally have a long, gray or rufous supercilium, especially females.

I also think this Cooper's Hawk is a male, with his blue-gray back and brightly colored, denser barring on his underparts.

The page also shows the raised hackles on a couple of the illustrations, which give that square-headed look that often makes the two species easier to distinguish.

Lisa