Thank you all for the help. The link that Stefan gave is really
helpful to see side by side. I also forgot to say that I saw 3 Muskrat
today at the Boathouse in Aurora. One had a few sticks in its mouth.
They spent some time out of view on the far end of the dock. Ice
prevented me from venturing further to see what they were doing, but
when they saw me, they went north along the shore. I love that Spring
comes earlier in the creature world! I did not see anything else
except Mallards and Buffleheads. Diana
On Feb 9, 2010, at 10:44 PM, Eben McLane wrote:
Thanks, Stefan, for great information.
Sharp-shinned and Cooper's Hawks are often so difficult to
differentiate because we see them mostly in swift action, slashing
by our feeders, chasing juncos, finches, cardinals and others into
the woods. I used to ID by the jay-size (Sharpie) versus the crow-
size (Cooper's), but I should rethink this now. Do you know of video
files showing each bird in flight?
Best,
Eben
On Feb 9, 2010, at 9:56 PM, Stefan Hames PhD wrote:
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
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