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Accipiter cooperii
I know this is not the best picture, I was so surprised to see this large bird on my fence and just grabbed what I had to take a picture...he is large and his breast is white. His tail is banded with black and gray stripes.
This is my backyard, he didn't come to eat, he just landed on the fence and hung out a few minutes.
Thanks for the suggestions I didn't see any other color on him. He flew down and just sat on the fence, he was there maybe 2 minutes. I was so shocked to see a bird that big that close to the house.
I think looking at the link http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Coope...
and comparing it to the sharp shinned hawk, I do believe it was a coopers hawk. So exciting, I just got into bird watching the last few days. my younger girls wanted to feed the birds and I had no idea how many would come to our back yard-so awesome.
Definitely a Cooper's Hawk (Accipiter cooperii). The pale nape, general proportions, and approximate size give it away.
That's what I thought but I cannot see any red on the breast from this angle. Laura, can you add anything more to the description, did you see any markings on the breast.
its a small accipiter. its really hard to tell a cooper's hawk from a sharpshinned hawk from that far away. its certainly too small to be a goshawk.
Spotted on Feb 12, 2012
Submitted on Feb 12, 2012
+2
