Up top you have a pair of gorgeous adult Red-shouldered Hawks (a species of Buteo, aka soaring hawks). On the bottom you have a juvenile (first year) Cooper's Hawk (a species of Accipiter). Notice the Red-shouldered Hawks' fancy black/white checkered upperwing pattern, and black/white banded short, fat tail. The Cooper's Hawk is showing a good view of its long, narrow tail.

Hi Claire, Found this old thread; thought I'd rehash the past. Ha! I can't help myself. I'm a hawk watcher. Your opening photos were undoubtedly an accipiter. The grey/black banded tail is the dead giveaway. The length of it is more pronounced than that of any buteo. The wing tips of a Red-shouldered Hawk come just about to the tip of the tail when perched. A Red-shouldered would never have grey/black as its tail colors and wouldn't have such a distinction between tip of wing to tip of tail. Also, notice how widely spaced the banding on the tail is; a RSHA juvenile would have narrowly-spaced light brown/dark brown banding on a much shorter, tapered tail. Juv RSHA would have heart-shaped streaking on chest down to the belly. Since you have familiarity with the small size of Sharpies and believed this to be too large, I'd day you had a juvenile Cooper's hawk here. Also, Blue Jays frequently imitate Red-shouldereds to freak out feeding birds and lay claim to what they leave behind. Tricksy birds, they are. Perhaps you've heard them do that. But you may have heard a RSHA in your woods as they seem to cling to the east coast year-round rather than fully migrate out. This post was edited by TMFF on Thu, Feb 7, 13 at 17:31

I agree with you that the tail is a bit confusing, and points more towards BRH unless this bird is a juvenile, in which case the bands should be essentially equal in width. Hmm this is quite confusing, but I still have to go with RSH based on the transluscent crescents on the wings, this is supposed to be the one of the best field marks for these hawks. The fingery appearance can change based on how the hawk holds its wings. Nathan

It looks from here to be a juvenile Cooper's Hawk, as already stated. The tail on Accipiters is long with wide bands, and this bird has that. As for the differences between Accipiters, juvenile Cooper's Hawks have fine brown chest streaks that usually come short of the belly, and this bird has that. So, good call.