And today's hawk is... maybe the same sharpie? It landed on the rose just outside my kitchen window and only stayed for a minute or less - just enough time for me to grab the camera which was close by. My impression was that the hawk was smaller than the usual Cooper's I see here, but that's hard to judge. This is the best shot I got of the tail; not very good Full face but without the breast. Profile. Head is maybe more rounded than the Cooper's here. The back is brown, not gray, so I figured it's a juvenile, but there's no obvious cap with a lighter nape if it happens to be an adult. When it took off I got the only look at the belly which looks more like an adult with a barred pattern. A lousy shot but the bird didn't cooperate. Today is the first day of my Project FeederWatch weekly count so I also emailed PFW with the pics. Just for comparison with a juvenile Cooper's Hawk, this pic was taken on 11/25/11 in the same position outside my kitchen window. Claire This post was edited by claire on Mon, Mar 11, 13 at 15:49

Okay, I may have been way off with my thinking that this was a sharp-shinned hawk. I have had adults in my yard before and I assumed that this was a juvenile. However, this could be a common nighthawk which we have around here. I live in Saskatchewan, Canada and the whip-poor-will is not common in my area. My book says they are more common in southwestern Sask. and I am east central Sask. Can anyone identify this bird for sue?

I fully agree. I have a pair of birds apparently nesting somewhere on my property that I frequently see mating (or snagging birds from my birdfeeder. . . .) that I can't get close enough to with my binoculars to readily identify. Although I have fairly positively identified Coopers as being around, this pair could be either species. What's interesting is that I also have mated pairs of both Red Tails & Red Shoulders on the property, & the 3 pairs are always bickering between themselves. Even the crows won't get involved when they're going at it - lol!

looks like I got a picture of a different hawk.. My "dove eater" has different under-the-wing markings than a red tail. Thanks for the ID... I'll keep the camera out and hopefully I will catch him one of these days.