Fri
May 30 2008
03:47 pm
Friday Bird Blogging
By: R. Neal

Spotted this suburban predator on the roof of the house across the street yesterday evening. There was a mockingbird on our roof raising hell at him/her, and sparrows were dive bombing him/her. (S)he seemed mostly unconcerned, preening and ruffling his/her feathers and looking around. (S)he finally got bored or annoyed or both and flew away.

Our best guess is an immature Sharp-shinned Hawk. Larger version and some more photos that might help with the ID after the jump.

Topics:
rikki's picture

What luscious photos, and

Submitted by rikki on Fri, 2008/05/30 - 9:03pm.

What luscious photos, and your ID seems correct.

You must have been shooting continuously to get all those in-flight shots.

cooperhawk's picture

Maybe it's a...

Submitted by cooperhawk on Fri, 2008/05/30 - 10:32pm.

There is one other possibilty.

rikki's picture

There is one other

Submitted by rikki on Fri, 2008/05/30 - 11:26pm.

There is one other possibilty.

Yes, but those shingles would have to be exceptionally large. Plus, there's the squared/notched tail. Shouldn't you be able to recognize one of your own?

cooperhawk's picture

Large shingles

Submitted by cooperhawk on Sat, 2008/05/31 - 12:10am.

O.K. the notched tail is a good sign. But the male Coopers Hawk is noticably smaller than the female, about the same size as a female Sharp-shinned & it is much more unusual to see a Sharp-shinned, which makes it even cooler if you're right. Besides, my own doesn't run around with the same crowd as I do. My birds of a feather, don't always flock together.

Pam Strickland's picture

This guy's tail is very

Submitted by Pam Strickland on Sat, 2008/05/31 - 2:56am.

This guy's tail is very distinctive. He's quite handsome, and Bubba's photos are exceptionally great. Those in-flight shots are great.

Pam Strickland

"We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be." ~Kurt Vonnegut

R. Neal's picture

Other ID clues. It was a

Submitted by R. Neal on Sat, 2008/05/31 - 8:07am.

Other ID clues. It was a smallish hawk, from a distance couldn't quite tell what it was other than it looked larger than the usual mockingbirds and robins, and not as big as a crow.

The tail seems to fit a Sharp-shinned, where the Cooper is more rounded and "broadly tipped with white."

What convinced me was "Immature is dark brown above, heavily streaked with dark brown below, streaking onto underbelly." For the Cooper, "thin brown streaks on breast, lacks streaking on underbelly."

(According to the Peterson Guide, emphasis theirs.)

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