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Accipiter cooperii
Sometimes it's hard to distinguish juvenile hawks from one another. Juvenile Cooper's hawk has brown upperparts that contrast with white underparts that have strong brown streaking.There are yellow eyes - although it's difficult to see with these pics. Their tail is brown on top and pale underneath, barred with dark bands. The eyes of this hawk, as in most predatory birds, face forward, enabling good depth perception for hunting and catching prey while flying at top speeds. They have hooked bills that are well adapted for tearing flesh of prey.
Spotted on a dead snag at Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge.
Their breeding range extends from southern Canada to northern Mexico. They are generally distributed more to the south than the other North American accipiters, the sharp-shinned hawk and the northern goshawk. Birds from most of the Canadian and northern U.S. range migrate in winter, and some Cooper's hawks winter as far south as Panama.
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