Thank you for the kind comments! Birds quickly learn to recognize when predators are in "hunting mode" or not, sometimes reminding me of Wile E. Coyote vs sheepdog cartoons where the sheepdog and coyote punch into work, greet each other, have coffee, then at the whistle start harassing each other. I've seen a Sharp-shinned Hawk waking up at dawn in the top of a tree next to Northern Flickers, bluebirds, etc. They'd all stretch and preen within a few feet of each other, then the hawk would fly off. After about 30 minutes when the other birds had begun feeding the hawk would come back, skimming low over the field, then go into pursuit of some terrified flicker. Wow..love the Sharpie photo

Cooper's Hawk, note the pale nape, and the overall large size of the bird.

I can't say for sure from the first picture, but the two others show a beautiful juvenile Cooper Hawk! The long rounded tail with broad white tip is very typical. Great pics! Luc

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