Porch hawk

[csh...@bywordofmind.com]

Here are photos of the hawk (Cooper's or Sharp-shined) that has been a frequent recent visitor (diner?) at our back porch feeding station.  Taken about 1PM today.

[Adrienne]

Yes, that's the one. And I've seen one with blueish tone wings so there are a couple different hawks that visit my back garden.

Adrienne

On Wed, Dec 22, 2021 at 1:28 PM csh...@bywordofmind.com <csh...@bywordofmind.com> wrote:

Here are photos of the hawk (Cooper's or Sharp-shined) that has been a frequent recent visitor (diner?) at our back porch feeding station.  Taken about 1PM today.

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[Lisa Millbank]

My guess is a Sharp-shinned, but there's just not quite enough visible detail to be very sure.  We can't see the end of the tail, but I think I can see a prominent white eyebrow stripe in one photo.  The eye looks more centered in the face and the head is relatively small and rounded. The color on this one looks more like a juvenile, but it's hard to tell if poor lighting is affecting that.  The hawk may be small enough to be a Sharpie, if those split logs are typical firewood size.

Lisa Millbank

On Wed, Dec 22, 2021 at 1:28 PM csh...@bywordofmind.com <csh...@bywordofmind.com> wrote:

Here are photos of the hawk (Cooper's or Sharp-shined) that has been a frequent recent visitor (diner?) at our back porch feeding station.  Taken about 1PM today.

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[csh...@bywordofmind.com]

It's reassuring to look online and see the experts say how hard it is to tell the two apart.

The planter to the right and below the hawk is exactly 12" high, and the photo shows it almost to the bottom with about 11" visible.  That would make this one between 11 and maybe 13". 

We've had Cooper's on the same porch before and from the indoor vantage point they do look quite a bit larger.  It would frequently perch at the top of a 4x4 (3.5x3.5) fence post, which made it fairly easy to extrapolate length.

This one has been coming in several times a day, which makes me think it's still perfecting it's hunting technique.  When all the little guys take flight we know to look for a hawk.  It's also still mostly a light tan/brown without much of the darker gray.  

So my best guess is a young Sharp-shined.

Carma Henry

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[Harry Fuller]

end of tail hidden, saDLY...but the vertical streaks mean juvie accipiter for sure...the pale cheeks indicate it is Sharpie which uis best guess without the tail

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Harry Fuller

author of: San Francisco's Natural History: Sand Dunes to Streetcars:

https://ecowise.wordpress.com/2017/04/20/sfnh/

author of Great Gray Owls of CA-OR-WA: https://ecowise.wordpress.com/2015/05/08/the-great-gray-owl-book/

author of Freeway Birding: freewaybirding.com
birding website: http://www.towhee.net
my birding blog: atowhee.wordpress.com

[Olin Allen]

If it is indeed about 11-13” long it would necessarily be a sharpie.  It’s definitely a juvie with the vertical (brown) streaking on the breast as opposed to the horizontal (cinnamon) barring of adults.  As Harry said, the pale cheek also supports sharpie, and this feature is especially prominent on juvie males.

 

Olin

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Olin Allen

Monmouth OR

olin...@earthlink.net

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