That's cool!
Also, warblers like to drop from one branch to another with the spiraling, fluttering motion of a falling leaf. Their movements are designed to prevent attracting the attention of hungry predators

Great catch on the photo. I almost stepped on a ruby crowned kinglet one day because of how it blended in to the leaves around the branches of the plant on which it was seed gathering.

I added a Savannah sparrow to my list of birds last season. It was a lifer for me and a rare bird for season/area last year on my PFW contribution. I am in Appalachian Ohio, could you tell us your general area?

Great photos showing the camouflage!

I think though that your bird appears to be a Song Sparrow. Savannah Sparrows don't usually have such a dark central breast spot (although some do) with such thick streaking on the breast and sides and many have yellowish lores. Also, the really thick dark malar stripe signifies Song Sparrow to me. However, Savannahs can be highly variable, approaching the color and patterning of a Song Sparrow...but your bird (to me) really appears to be a Song Sparrow. Terrific photos regardless.

BN

Here is a link that might be useful:

I agree with birding_nut. It appears to be a song sparrow to me as well. Nonetheless, your photos are fascinating. I'm amazed you spotted it with such good camouflage.

Great observations. I love the leaf blowing in the wind. I've never thought of it that way.I have to agree with BN on the ID though. Great photo

I have noticed the same thing when the birds are feeding on dead flower seed heads in the garden; I see nothing......then I walk by and a flock with fly up out of the feeding area.

They are perfectly camouflaged for winter feeding.

Like everyone else, when i first took the picture I thought it was a song sparrow, however we have a nesting pair of bald eagles in the woods behind our house, as well as a wild turkey nesting area in the woods and their is a Ornithologist from the county extension service that comes by at least twice a month to check on them. While here I showed her the pics and she identified that as a Savannah Sparrow. She then pointed out to me in her field book that the song sparrow has a Black area at the base of the top beak called a "mustache" and the song sparrow has a triangular black patch on the forehead, where this bird has a clear beak and striped forehead.

Hey lazypup:

I remember you from the Building a Home Forum - you were always a voice of reason when reason was sometimes sorely needed. Didn't you retire and take off down the river on a houseboat, or something like that?

Anyway, this morning I looked out my window and there were no birds at the feeders or on the ground, so I looked in the usual places for the hawk.

One favorite perch is on the big old winterberry.

And there it was blending in nicely. Probably a Cooper's Hawk, but I'm not great at identification.

The hawk just flashed by my computer window, so it probably hasn't caught a bird yet.

Claire (glad you're back)

The hawk is a Sharp-shinned (head and tail are the give-aways).

A shame we can't see the tail on your sparrow. I still lean toward Song Sparrow despite your ornithologist (a lot of variation in both species though). Just my very amateur opinion of course.

-O-

-O- :

The Song Sparrow photo is lazypup's, not mine.

I hope this is a Sharp-shinned Hawk, simply because I have a long history of thinking I've photographed a sharpie, emailing the photo to Project FeederWatch, and having them tell me no, it's a Cooper's Hawk.

Claire

I didn't mean to hijack lazypup's thread, I just wanted to give another example of camouflage. But since identification of hawks got opened, I'll jump into it (sorry, lazypup).

I just looked again at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Tricky Bird IDs: Sharp-shinned Hawk and Cooper's Hawk page, and maybe I finally do have a sharpie.

The nape of the neck of my hawk is dark, which is consistent with the sharpie.

In contrast, the type of hawk I usually get here is this, which I believe is an adult Cooper's Hawk. A sleeker kind of hawk.

Claire (who is very glad hawks are much smaller than humans)

Yep, Cooper's longer tail and neck make for a more elongated bird. Also check out the difference in bills. You've got your Sharp-shinned shot.

And I didn't mean to imply anything regarding ownership of either photo, just tossing in my opinion of both photo subject birds in the same post. Because bird ID is a major topic on this forum with widespread interest I didn't think of it as hijacking.

-O-

Ah! Looking back at earlier photos (I have a LOT of hawk shots), I think the sharpie has been around for a few months.

I'm still not confident with my ID skills, what do you make of this hawk I saw on July 29, 2008? Sharp-shinned Hawk also? or Cooper's?

Claire

Actually I want to say that's a Red-shouldered Hawk (that's a tough angle for easy ID though).

-O-

-O-

That wasn't really fair, but I just liked that photo. I dug in and found a series of photos from that same day, so I think these are the same bird: I don't usually take one shot, I take 27 and then agonize over which to delete and end up keeping most of them. Then I wonder why my computer gets slower and slower....l.

Anyway, my guess is a Sharp-shinned Hawk, but that tail looks more like a Cooper's (sigh).

Claire

Yeah, I still think that's a Red-shouldered Hawk. The tail is too short for an accipitor. I think it's an in-between immature/adult molt.

-O-

Thanks, -O-, I wonder what else I've seen around here and didn't realize it.

At least I can tell a turkey from a blue jay from a herring gull from a robin .... I think...

Claire

Claire,

I believe you were actually correct; this is a Cooper's Hawk. I agree with orrin that this is a bird in transitional plumage but disagree on the species.

My reasoning:

1. At no time does a Red-shouldered Hawk take on a red/orange iris. Juveniles show some yellow which turns dark brown upon maturing.

2. This young hawk shows no barring on its upper wings. RSHA show very distinct, almost checkerboard barring on the folded upper wing tips very early on. This bird is well into an adult moult and would show those wing bars very distinctly.

3. Great wings-spread picture! Your photographs are so good that bird ID becomes pretty straightfoward. You thought this photo was a poor one but this is the one that gives the species away (my next two points). Look at those wing undersides- there are no dark tips at the outer corners. Those outer primaries are black in a juv. RSHA.

4. If anything, the tail gives it away! This bird has one adult tail feather moulted in already (second one from the left). The spacing on the tail bands are neither juv. RSHA (more narrowly spaced light brown/whitish with dark brown with a noticeably wider dark subterminal band and thin white at the tip) or adult RSHA (wide black bands with narrow white bands between). This bird has the close to the same spacing on the tail bands between juvenile and adult. The tail is going from greyish/blackish to dark grey and black with a distinct white tip. Cooper's Hawk! That adult tail feather is definitely not Red-shouldered.

5. The light supercilium is a juvenile Cooper's mark, but this is the only field mark here that can be subjective.

So, you were correct in your initial ID. Hope that clears up some confusion.

Check out the adult's tail

Here is a link that might be useful: Took some photos from this website

Here's a juvnile RSHA. Notice the wing bars.

And because they are such a stunning bird of prey, here's another look at the tail, wing bars, (and a bit of the hard-to-see red shoulder) of an adult RSHA.

I forgot to mention this- the Cooper's field marks I made reference to are also true of Sharp-shinned Hawks, but this bird's head looks like a Cooper's Hawk (bulkier). The tail is moulting so I can't say for sure. A male Cooper's Hawk is still larger than a female Sharpie, so size is sometimes the best indicator (but only if there's a frame of reference).

This post was edited by TMFF on Fri, Feb 8, 13 at 10:57

Thanks, TMFF, your descriptions are very clear.

That Rhizae photo of the adult Red-shouldered Hawk is wonderful (but I can hear it yelling LET ME GO!)

Claire

This post was edited by claire on Fri, Feb 8, 13 at 10:58

Hate seeing those birds caged.

By the way, you have some serious Cooper's Hawk breeding going on near your home!

Oh, yeah, that hawk you photographed earlier up the thread does look to be a Sharpie (dark nape to neck).