That's a good possibility, but when I saw it (from a distance), it really looked like the bars on the wings were almost to the tip of the wings..........sort of like what the white bars on a red-headed woodpecker look like when it flies. Maybe I have some sort of a mutant?? I'll be keeping my eye out for it again.

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

I am going with Cooper's Hawk. The birds head profile and size in relation that that fence post are clinchers for me on the ID. BN

Thanks! So when do their tails get the reddish plumage? This one had brown striped tail feathers, I thought that the adults had red tails but I know very little about red tailed hawks so I thought I would ask, thanks! Oh, also, what's that whistling noise that it is making? There is a redtailed hawk couple that lives in my area, I used To see them Together all the time, now they seem to be hanging out solo mostly, I wondered if this one might be one of their "kids" from this year or year before, this one's plumage looks a lot darker than the male and female I usually see in the area.