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 agree with BN. You indeed have a first-year Red-tailed Hawk. If you have a field guide, take a look at this bird's tail pattern and compare with Cooper's/Sharp-shinned. You'll notice it's a shorter, fatter tail with narrower banding than with Cooper's/Sharp-shinned. Also, compare this bird's tail with an adult Red-tailed Hawk's tail (which is a rusty red color) and you'll see how we can distinguish a juvenile from an adult. They gain their red tails during their first molts (when they are one year old). This bird should be molting soon, as it hatched last year.

I suggest visiting Cornell Lab of Ornithology's "All about Birds" webpage. You can listen to the calls of hawks (since you got to hear this suspicious bird's call). That might be the key to IDing this bird. http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-tailed_Hawk/id The most educated answer I can give is that this is a dark morph red-tailed hawk. Its bill is just too broad to be a red-shouldered hawk (and I have not known red-shouldered hawks plumage to vary that considerably, as red-tailed hawks are known to do). Now the fact that you're in Florida is interesting since dark-morph red-tailed hawks are more known to occur in the Plains and western U.S.(see Harlan's hawks and western red-tailed hawks for images). So, unless this is a falconry bird that escaped, this is probably a rare bird to find in Florida. Would love to hear the opinion of a birding expert. This post was edited by TMFF on Mon, Jan 28, 13 at 22:31

The long tail is typical of a Coopers Hawk. Broadwings tails barely clear the end of the wings. Coopers hawks will go to great lengths to capture prey. They are very vocal with a loud series of Kak Kak kaks when alarmed. Here is a link that might be useful: If you love nature you will love Frogpatch.com