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Accipiter striatus
The Sharp-shinned Hawk (Accipiter striatus) is a small hawk. In fact, "sharp-shins" or "sharpies" (as they are sometimes casually called) are the smallest to reside in USA and Canada, though some Neotropical species are smaller (notably the aptly named Tiny Hawk). The taxonomy is far from resolved, with some authorities considering the southern taxa three separate species: White-breasted Hawk (A. chionogaster), Plain-breasted Hawk (A. ventralis) and Rufous-thighed Hawk (A. erythronemius). These birds surprise and capture all their prey from cover or while flying quickly through dense vegetation. They are adept at navigating dense thickets and many attacks are successful, although this hunting method is often hazardous to the hawk. The great majority of this hawk's prey are small birds, especially various songbirds such as sparrows, wood-warblers, finches, wrens, nuthatches, tits, icterids and thrushes.
It occurs in a wide range of woodland and forest types, both dominated by conifers and by various types of broad-leaved trees (especially oaks) The largest populations of the nominate group (see taxonomy) are thought to occur in the temperate boreal forests, but winter in warmer regions further south.
With our recent pondless waterfalls/large bird baths that my husband and I built in our front and back yard, I was pretty much expecting to find one of these in the yard. But not on top of our car. Which is where I spotted this juvenile as I started to open the front door.
Spotted on Sep 2, 2012
Submitted on Sep 3, 2012
3 Comments
No... don't worry about it. I think those were the only ones that I kept because they were the clearest. I don't usually save on the originals so I'll see if I can fine tune them with a better program. But thank you, now I see why my husband is second guessing himself too and I will check into those links as well. Thanks again. ")
OMG, that was long, sorry!
Oh boy! Sharp-shinned Hawks and Cooper's Hawks are two of the hardest raptors to identify. The female sharpies are often the same size as the male Coops which makes it even more difficult. The best way I have found to ID them is by their tail shape.
Cooper's Hawks tails are curved/rounded at the end of the tail while the Sharp-shinned Hawks have flatter/squarer ends of the tail.
Unfortunately, in your series of photos the tail end is cut off in one of the pics and two photos are at a weird angle. Do you have any more pictures?
Next I would look to the stripping on the front of the bird's chest. Again, it's really hard to see in your pictures.
You can also use the position of their eyes and the thickness of their legs to make an ID.
I think your ID is correct, but I just can't tell for certain with your pics. My first thought was, yes, you are correct, but then I started second guessing myself...sorry I'm not more helpful.
Check out these two links. the first one is a site I reference often when trying to ID these guys. (I keep it book marked on my computer!)
http://static.birds.cornell.edu/pfw/Abou...
The second link is a picture my friend took of two juvi female Cooper's Hawks. It's a great reference photo!
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=4...
Let me know if this helps at all or if you have additional pics! ...and great shots by the way. I have yet to photograph Accipiter!