HI Bob,

First, let me congratulate you for these magnificent pictures!

Second, your forehead hint is very interesting, sure I will check for it in the future. Thanks a lot for sharing your knowledge et photograher skill with us.

Luc

Bob n Bernie- Thanks for sharing those great shots. Also, that is an interesting tip about the forehead. Sibley's doesn't mention this as a field mark. I found this one in my backyard the other day. I can't help but notice that the streaking on your picture #2 looks very much like the one I saw. Thanks for posting pics. Ruth

{{!gwi}}

Are u sure that the last bird is a juv. sharpie? I would call that one off as Coopers as well based on the overall shape and streaking.
Nathan

Great shots BnB!!!

Luc, you need to congratulate the birds for being so magnificent. We were fortunate to have them come so close and sit still long enough for us to get these pictures.

We have wanted to share this tip since we read it but didn't have pictures to show what we meant. The Cooper's coming a few days ago prompted us to share this with our friend and he supplied the juvenile Sharp-shinned. That made it even better.

Ruth, we saw your post and didn't comment for lack of pictures as stated above. We are glad you posted your wonderful picture here in profile because it shows the shape of the head more than in your other post and helps to strengthen our argument about head shape. Most of the time they move there head from side to side so you can see the shape. Most people post the pictures of them looking at you which makes this process a little harder to use.

Nathan, maybe the shape and streaking are so similar between these species that it is part of the reason there is so much question as to which is which. That is why the shape of the head may be a better way to decide. Our second picture and Ruth's looks like the beak is a continuation of a line in the same plane as the top of the beak. You could almost lay a straightedge across it.

The adult and the third picture, that you question, do not look like that. The beak and the head look like two separate curves that meet at an angle.

Thank you Rachel, BnB

I see your point, and I must say that I have never heard of this before, (u learn something new all the time).
Neat, thank you.

Nathan

This new Ruth's picture shows the same bird of the other post. Now it looks like a juvenile Cooper Hawk. You were absolutely right Nathan!

Luc

Interesting ID technique - if old eyes can get close enough to get a good look at the bird. Once in a while, one will perch in a tree close to the house so that I can get a good long look at it.

I learned to ID them in flight by how much head is showing: if you see lots of head, it's a Cooper's; if the head is pulled back in close to body, it's a sharp-shinned.

I love these accipiter threads. I had the same reaction that Nathan did; that is, isn't that third pic a Cooper's hawk? Although the head looks more rounded, it isn't totally conclusive to me. I use another little trick I haven't seen documented; the relative diameters of the tarsus and the eye. The leg of a sharp-shinned hawk is much smaller than the diameter of the eye, while the Cooper's has leg diameter about the same as the eye. Look at the leg on the third pic, and you'll see why I continue to think that bird a Cooper's hawk.

Like Nathan, I am not referring to Ruth's photo, but the third one from Bob 'n Bernie.