Pair of Sharpies (I think) dropped by...Berthoud

[ronbco]

The pair landed just off my back porch in my rural home west of Berthoud.

I did not have in my brain the differentiation factors for Sharpies, Coopers and Merlins for the 20 seconds before they left.

In studying afterwards I am pretty sure they were Sharpies because the tail feathers, when perched, did not show any rounding (uniform length across the feathers of the tail).

They certainly seemed more "chubby" than the descriptions of Merlins.

From looking at ebird sitings in the area and the frequency counts it is hard to make a judgment.

Opinions?

Ron Bolton

Berthoud

[ronbco]

I received one reply with some guidance and have gone back and forth on a final determination.

I have landed (or shall I swooped in) on Coopers.

Final factors were:

• probably can't count on the tail feathers actually being rounded since they were folded in perched position
• length was more on the 14+" .., more in the Coopers range
• Though the head did not appear "large", it was more pronounced than the pics I've seen for Sharpies
• Body structure was more barrel-shaped

I found the following web page helpful: http://feederwatch.org/learn/tricky-bird-ids/coopers-hawk-and-sharp-shinned-hawk/

Ron Bolton

Berthoud