What I know: it is last year's "baby." See the brown feathers mixed in with the grey? It's molting into its adult plummage.

What I think is it is a female sharpie. The tails says sharpie, although the head says coop.

How big was it in relation to a crow? A male or female sharpie would be smaller than a crow.

Nice hawk.

Close to crow size. There have been some follow ups at the other forum and the consesus there is that it is a male Cooper's.

The post there is, How come there is no food for me? ID Help

Thanks, Bob

Yes, crow-sized is Coops.

Nice bird.

That is a gorgeous bird!! And a wonderful shot...wow!

Beautiful shots! Looks like Cooper to me-Sharpies are smaller, aren't they? (Although, I am certainly not an expert!)

Susanne

Yes it is a coopers hawk, but remember that size is not always a definitive way of distinguishing a coopers from a sharpie, as a large female sharp shinned may be nearly as large as a small male coopers. Just something to consider when trying to id.

I think size is a bad way to go with Cooper's and Sharp-shinned. Sharp-shinned always seems tiny-headed to me relative to Cooper's, and the strong contrast between crown and nape on your bird together with the big head make me think Cooper's.

-O-

Thank you all for your responses. I to am convinced that it is a female Cooper's. We have seen her or a friend numerous times. We get Band-tailed Pigeons and she was setting on the fence again and I thought it was one of them until I saw the color on her chest. By the time I got to the camera, she was gone...Bob

look at the eye and how fiercy it look. it is a Cooper's. the sharp-shinned has this startled look with a wide open eye.

Nice shot. My camera always seems to be out of film whenever I spot a hawk in my backyard. Last time the battery in the camera was dead.

Richard

count me in for Coopers.
Great pic Bernie!!!!

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. . .

You have got to be crazy if u say that this is a sharpie. It has the large head and look of a Coopers hawk. It also has a paleish gray nape. Also, you may have not heard this, but Sharp shinned hawks rarely perch on fences or fence posts. I am very confident that this is a Coopers Hawk, sorry Feather man.

Nathan

Hi all,

I say Cooper Hawk, probably a male.

The fierce look, solid legs, nape contrast, white tip of the tail...

Luc

I agree with Luc about the fierce look. I think its a Cooper because of the size --- crow-sized. I really like the view of its legs. I recently had an artist make a tile picture of a Coopers hawk and I thought she made the legs too big and solid. Now looking at the legs of this hawk I think she got them right.

Richard

Beautiful photos~thanks for sharing them!