Cooper's Hawk

Thank you Malcolm Wilton-Jones for your input. Your photo really shows the difference between the feet of the two birds. The hawk that visited my feeder had the thicker legs. It also was a very large bird, perhaps 14-16 inches in height. From what I have read on the two hawks, the Cooper's is much larger than the Sharp-shinned.

This bird has thick legs and long toes and claws for catching large birds such as pigeons for its prey, so for me is a Cooper's. The Sharp-shinned has much tinier feet reflecting its diet of smaller birds.
Look at this picture of the two together and compare the feet: https://projectfeederwatch.files.wordpre...

I have both. My mom gets juv cooper's at her house every year. And she gets an occasional sharp shinned. I get both occasioanlly at my place 20 miles away

Thank you KarenSaxton. The Cooper's Hawk is very common in my area of Illinois. I wish I was a bird expert:)

Thank you Joshua Asel for the ID suggestion. This is the first time I have seen a hawk of this type. I see what you mean about it about it being Sharp-shinned Hawk. Sharp-shinned Hawks are endangered in our area. It would be fantastic if I had an endangered species land in my backyard:)

Thank you, Bill!

I'm with Stephanie: the cap on the head is visisble, the long neck and thick legs all speak Coopers

This is a Sharp-shinned Hawk :) Judging by the rounded head (vs Cooper's square head) and the eyes are further apart from the beak (which there is almost no space between beak and eyes on Cooper's).

What a great capture! I'm jealous😃