I was in the 2003-2004 master gardener class at Middlesex County. All of the counties offer something a little different so if you are not looking at Middlesex County this will not apply. The classes are every Friday morning for almost the whole year. After the classes are done you need to complete a large number of volunteer hours as payback (60 or more). You also have to do a collection project which they didn't tell us about until the end of the class. To maintain your certification you have to do 25 volunteer hours a year and get 10 educational hours per year. The educational credits are regulated so this can be hard if you can't attend/afford extension approved classes. The positives at Middlesex is you learn a lot. They mostly use extension agents and people involved with Cook College. I enjoyed the collection project but I would have preferred to learn about it earlier than we did. Also several of my classmates were not certified because they couldn't get this done. The negatives for me (and these are probably very personal) that a lot of stuff at Middlesex takes place during the day. The classes are during the day and a lot of the volunteer opportunities are during the day. I work full time so volunteer opportunities are hard for me. I have figured out enough to do with greenhouse work (preparing for our huge plant sale) and such but it can be hard figuring it all out. If you have specific questions and want to know more send me an E-mail. -- Maria

I know next to nothing about hawks, so I had to pull out my Audubon field guide and really do some searching and comparing. I found myself in a similar quandary as you did: either the Sharp-Shinned Hawk or the Cooper's. The question I have, I guess, is about how large is this hawk? If it was chasing a jay, it would seem to make more sense for it to have been the larger Cooper's Hawk. Although the tail of the Sharp-Shinned Hawk seems to match your photo better. According to the field guide both of these hawks have ranges that would include where you live. I guess in the end I would say it was a Cooper's Hawk. I can't wait to see what others say! Thanks for sharing a fun puzzle.

I, too, would think it would have to be a hungry Coopers that would tackle a grown Grey Squirrel, but I'm sure there are Hawks just that hungry, when they haven't been successful for a day or two--particularly at this time of year, when they need sustinence to survive the cold weather. But, with luck, and just the right death-blow to the Squirrel, it can be done, as in christy's photo. Not far from where christy2828 captured that neat picture, a friend of mine owns an organic market, and while visiting with him the other day, in front of his store, I was somewhat shocked to see a Coopers Hawk fly down to the parking lot in front of his store, and try to catch a House Sparrow (which we call English Sparrows in this area) that was pecking around near a parked car. The Hawk flew next to the car, and the House Sparrow went UNDER the car, and actually got up into the undercarriage of it to escape the Hawk. I couldn't believe it when the Coopers Hawk went under the car, looking around for the Sparrow. The Hawk knew the Sparrow was there somewhere, since it went under the car, and did not fly away. The Hawk walked around under the car, looking behind the tires, etc., for quite a few minutes, before coming out the other side, walking around a bit more, then flying up to a tree. I had never seen such a thing, as a Coopers Hawk actually hunting on FOOT, not from the air. I got the idea that he had been playing this cat and mouse game with other Sparrows in the parking lot--he seemed so casual about it all, not paying a bit of attention to me and my friend, just a very short distance away. Of course, it was in a strip mall in town, so I'm sure the Hawk had no reason to fear people. My friend told me the Hawk hunts outside his store all the time, generally perching in the Sycamore trees in front of the store. He said he had seen the Hawk crash into the hedge in front of his store, to get a Sparrow, and one time, crash into his window, in an unsuccessful attempt--then, shook itself off, and flew back up to the tree. Boldest Coopers Hawk I ever saw--but I guess that's what it takes to catch Sparrows in the city--no fear!

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