jannd, I should have given the information I usually give with the picture. In most, if not all, species of the birds of prey, the female is larger then the male. Sharpie males are about 10"- females 14". Cooper's males are 14"- females 21". A 14" male Coop is the same size as a 14" female Sharpie. The side by side picture is made from pictures on the same fence with one picture manipulated to make the board the same width as the other. That makes the birds to scale to one another. As you can see, they are for all practical purposes, the same size. The real size difference is between the male Sharpie and a female Coop. We hope to get a picture of them on the fence for a side by side of all 4. Hope this is of help, Bob

Beck1, In the winter (Nov-Apr'ish) in your area, a white-headed hawk such as this could be a Krider's Red-tailed Hawk or a light-morph Harlan's Red-tailed Hawk. By June, however, they're back at their breeding grounds. Had this photo been taken in winter, I'd have to consider them in the case of a white-headed hawk like this one. Since this is summer, a leucistic bird is more likely. Just wanted to share that info with you! If you (or anyone else reading this) are curious about these subspecies, I have included a link with info on each one. Here is a link that might be useful: ABA Journal- Krider's

Last fall I was at Stanley Park in Westfield, Massachusetts shooting some scenic photos of the park and I kept hearing a whistling sound off in the distance. Finally out of curiosity I went to see what it was. To my complete surprise I found it was a guy in his backyard, which adjoins the park, and he was training a Red Tailed hawk in the art of "Falconry" (Hunting by means of a raptor). I quickly hung a long telephoto lens and began shooting pictures. In a few minutes the guy noticed me and invited me to come in a bit closer. I moved in to about 20ft where he and I could talk yet my presence would still not excite the hawk. In our discusssion he told me that he is one of only 7 ppl in the entire state who are currently licensed to practice the art of Falconry. According to him it takes 6 years in an apprenticeship to get a license and they must have the license before they can posses a bird. During that 6yr period they must work with a raptor rehab facility to learn how to care & feed the birds as well as handling characteristics. He also stated that they cannot buy a bird. To get a bird they have to live trap one in the wild, but they are limited to only trapping birds that are presenting some form of nuisance. In his case, his bird had taken up residence in a residential neighborhood and had been hunting bird near ppls bird feeders or small cats, most of which were to large for the bird to carry off so it just killed a cat, then consumed what it could on the spot and leaving the remains to the total dismay of the cat owners. . . . . . Here is a photo of me doing my imation of a handler.....LOL

Looks like an osprey to me.