Before this one, I'd only seen a cooper's, aside from flyovers, once since i started bird watching. It was perched on neighbors HAM radio antenna, and I was able to get a few pics of it. Before I started bird watching, I saw, what I now am pretty sure was, a cooper's hawk try to catch a blue jay that was perched in one of my crepe Myrtle trees, right in front of me, he missed though! Everything I've ever reAd about cooper's, describes them as being "uncommon" in urban areas and lists them As "forest dwelling hawks" which is what made me doubt this hawk was a cooper's, and also why I usually assume it's a red tailed when I see hawks in busy/urban areas, now I'll make sure to take a closer look! Thanks!

It is really hard to be sure without a picture, but my best guess would be a Cooper's. See if this matches the hawk you saw. Here is a link that might be useful: description of Cooper's Hawk

LOL. OK, I saw this post last summer and said female Sharpie, and I am *still* convinced that it's a first-year female Sharp-shinned. A female Cooper's would be about 17 - 20 ' long from tip of beak to tip of tail. A male Cooper's would be about one-third smaller. Female Sharp-shinned's can rival the size of male Cooper's Hawks, and being that the tail has the tell-tale thin margin of gray and a thin band of white at the tips, also suggests Sharpie. HOWEVER, because this bird isn't finished molting yet, the tail-tips could very easily be worn. THAT being said, look at the new feathers coming in at the tail; they seem to still show that sign for a Sharp-shinned to me. . .

I apologize for not getting back to this post sooner. I live in central Indiana, where red tailed hawks are common, but I couldn't I.D. this one. Thanks for your help!