Hi Diana, Nice picture! The bird in the picture appears to be a Cooper's, rather than a Sharp-shinned, Hawk. There are several clues to this ID; the strongest to me is the nape of the neck, which is light and contrasts with the very dark grey cap. See the sharpie at http://www.cityoforangebeach.com/pages_2007/hawk_migration/hawk_images/sharp_shinned_hawk.jpg, and note the dark nape of the neck on the sharpie The legs, although thin, are quite a bit larger than a sharpie's.There is an excellent guide fhttp://www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw/AboutBirdsandFeeding/accipiterIDtable.htm for telling the two species apart. Scroll down to the section on immature hawks where the feet and legs are easy to see for both species. The sharpie's legs look like match sticks compared to the more robust Cooper's legs. I have had a lot of both species in hand, and although there is an area where female sharpies measurements can overlap with male Cooper's, the legs are always a good cue (when they're in hand). In flight or perched there are other field marks, obviously. The accipiters, of which sharpies and Cooper's hawks (along with Northern Goshawks) have the largest differences between sexes; the male sharpie may only mass 0.67 or so of the female mass. The smaller two species can easily be confused even by good birders unless they get a good look. It has been shown that even experienced hawk counters misidentified the species about 14% of the time.
There are some other id clues, but they don't apply, based on the position of the hawk. Thanks for sharing your raptor moment. Best Regards, Stefan . > Hi All, > > Today, though the light was more than dreadful, I took a drive down > to Ithaca to see the Red-Tails at the game farm. There were about 25 > without even trying. The thing I didn't get is are they actively > hunting the Pheasants? I did see a couple Red tails on a bird of some > sort inside or somewhere in the center of the cages. It was really > hard to see well through the fence. I did see a Red Tail above the > enclosures on the side road too. Are they part of a program for > Cornell? Just curious....... > On my way home I found what I think is a Sharp-Shinned on a wire on > Potter Rd. It was hunting a bird which it did grab right after I got a > brief look and a photo. If I have the wrong id feel free to direct me. > I thought it was a Sharpie because of it's legs and it was so slender, > but on hawks, I still am learning! http://www.pbase.com/image/121833644 > I lingered until late to look for Short -eared Owls. No luck. I did > see a lot of Red-Tails and Crows. Diana Whiting > > -- > > Cayugabirds-L List Info: > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES > > ARCHIVES: > 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html > 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html > 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds > > Please submit your observations to eBird: > http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ > > -- ================================== Stefan Hames, PhD Conservation Science Cornell Lab of Ornithology 159 Sapsucker Woods Road Ithaca, NY 14850 607-254-2496 Office 607-254-2104 Fax 607-273-4915 Home [email protected] ================================== -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
