How To Tell the Difference Between a Cooper's Hawk and a Sharpshinned Hawk Plus I Find a Pair.

I'd been picking up sticks out of the yard, and considering whether to make another sparrow pile or perhaps  another giant yard nest when a hawk soared over my head.  Hmmm.  Looks rather long tailed for a buteo.  I watched as it flew into a tree and wove amongst the branches maybe three blocks down.  Accipiter!

I noted the tree against a chimney from a sight line over roofs from where I was standing .  It  looked like several of blocks away.  I dumped the sticks,  got the camera and as I was in a hurry, jumped into the car and took off.

I followed the sight line to the tree, in which I thought I'd seen the hawk enter.  Nothing.

A friend had said a few days before  she thought she'd seen some hawks in a tree doing "something odd" in front of a house quite a number of blocks away.  Upon description the "something odd" might well have been copulation. I get back in the car and keep going further south.


  There were three teenagers sitting on a porch across the street from the house number I'd been given so I asked them if they'd seen any hawks lately.

Nope, they hadn't.  I scanned the trees in front of the noted house and there was what looked a whole lot like a nest.  

See top photo.

Well it looks a bit like a crow's nest but not quite.  Also too exposed.  A squirrel dray that had lost its leaves?  Wrong size twigs. 

That's when a hawk, (Coopers maybe?) flew over my head to a tree in the backyard of the  house where the mystery nest was in a front yard tree.  Bird had disappeared.  You never know what you might see when you bring the photo up at home.  He had to be there somewhere. 

 Well not necessarily. They are very big about flying straight through thickets of  trees without wiggling a twig.

     I keep looking.  What is that center? Is that a tail?

Yes it is.  But at the time I didn't have the ability to zoom in this far.  You can see it reasonably well with a cropped photo but at the time I wasn't sure of what  I was looking at.  So I looked over at what could be a nest.

 Then took a couple of steps toward it.  Saw something  in the corner of my eye and looked back at the possible adult entry area from earlier.

Is that a hawk at the top of that evergreen?
 No, in this case it IS the top of that evergreen.  Sigh.
I look back left.

My my, wait just a minute.   Look who has abandoned cover and is exposing himself.  Well as much as an Accipiter EVER exposes himself.

I do believe that there are a couple of bright red eyes staring at me.  Okay, I hate to admit it.  And I'm sure I'll get used to them but a mature Cooper's bright red eyes do give me the creeps a little.

Which brings us to the question of just which species this bird is.

Ah ha!  A Cooper's Hawk!  Now let us talk once again about how one tells the difference.  That leg doesn't look particularly like a stick, which many guides  will tell you the legs of a Sharp-shinned look like.  Not exactly a no fool field mark by any stretch of the imagination. 
(When I got home I looked at Peterson's Hawks of North America and found one.  Yes, I use Peterson's.   Sibley's is for other things though I do find the drawing and paintings look more  than a bit like stuffed bird skins.  For a pure ID field mark, I go with Peterson's everytime.)

And what is that field mark for this species?  For a mature adult Cooper's Hawk this is a jewel, for as we have discussed numerous times it isn't all that easy to decide only on the mark of size or the neck or no neck possibility for positive ID. Though I admit that those can be helpful.  But do you know the sure way to tell a mature Coop from a mature  Sharpie?

The color of the top of the head, that dark grey,  does not continue down  to meet the feather color of the back like a Sharpie's does.  A Coopers hawk wears a "cap" and has lighter feathers at the back of the neck before going into the darker feathers of the back and wings. 

Still obviously watching me, then...

Suddenly the hawk looks North.

And a different hawk zips over my head and whips into the tree across the street.

I go across the street and look up the trunk.  Bingo!

I think this is the mate.

On the next shot, my flash accidentally  goes off and she flips off the branch and is gone.

 I look back, and the other hawk is gone.  Misdirection by a pair, it works nearly every time.  I scan further South, and keep going.   No hawk.

There he is!  And he knows I know but keeps sitting.  I had read that some Cooper's Hawks are becoming comparatively human habituated and this may be one of the them.

Having "looked" at the hawks for some minutes, and it is getting dark, I decide that it is time to leave them in peace.

No question I'll be visiting  them again soon.

Plus George and Martha of Highbridge Park have a Hatch!!!
Go to the links panel on the right and click on Rob Schmunk's link, Morningside Park Hawks for pix and details.  
Happy Hawking!
Donegal Browne

The Thanksgiving Fiasco, the Hosts and Guest from HELL or ( Photos of Cooper's Hawk and Avian Prey Not For the Sensitive.), the Collision of Diametrically Opposed Universes Shatters Worlds

Let me make it clear, this is not what I saw when I very mistakenly called out to the family in which I had been invited as a guest for Thanksgiving, "There's a hawk in the tree! ", but rather-

What I saw was more similar to this though at first the prey was hidden beyond the twigs and under the hawks talons.  I stood still so as not to flush the hawk with any quick movement.  Whereas the others being beyond the view of  the window could rapidly get my camera out of the bag etc,  while I stood stock still and slowly reached my arm out  to be handed my camera.  

Now perhaps if I'd known that the hawk had nabbed a woodpecker, possibly out of the feeder directly in front of the window.  A feeder in which no cover whatsoever was provided for the feeding quests or even allowed in this circumspectly shaved and trimmed yard typical of Wisconsin even though this was like putting up a sign, PLEASE EAT THESE BIRDS, to any predators including the farm cats that live in the barn behind the house.... 

A caveat: As I put up feeders, a rather unnatural arrangement, which offers little or no natural cover for the feeding birds,  I go to great lengths to try and make the feeding area as safe as I can  for the birds at the feeder as hey, yes I'm feeding them but I'm feeding them so I can watch them at my convenience therefore I owe them. 

But as usual I was so focused about seeing a hawk and so programmed to share,  likely nothing would have made a bit of difference to my commentary.

When a raptor makes an appearance, I go automatically into Hawk Bench Mode and I share the information with the world. 

 It's a New York City mode,  the folks on the Bench want to know.  Plus the more eyes focused on our collective interest of the moment, the bigger chance of tracking the current focus of our attention as time goes on, right?   And as everyone is looking at SOMETHING the passers-by,  utter strangers, most often want to know what is going on too. And let me add, they are utterly delighted to have  a hawk pointed out for them in the middle of New York City.

This has been my universe.

I had completely utterly forgotten I was in a completely other universe.

If only I'd kept my mouth shut.

I say, " Oh, I think she got a Woodpecker."  This isn't something I'm dying to see, you understand,  but I don't want the Accipiter to go hungry and they eat  birds. According to the research, the majority of birds taken are injured or ill or elderly. It supposedly helps keep the flock healthy. But I'd ever so much rather she'd have taken a Starling or other exotic of which there are horrid hordes... but nature is nature.

Then the hawk begins to wiggle the prey, and a Thanksgiving family son in his 50's who obviously is not familiar with the urges of young hawks, in that they can tend toward, it was so great killing it the first time, I'll kill it a second time, behavior.  Which our Accipiter then goes through the motions of  doing.

The hawk leaps on the prey again.

The son once again says, "It's moving!!"  

His eighty-five year old mother, cries out angrily, "It's killing MY woodpecker!!!!"

I try to say calmly, "No, the woodpecker is dead. It is too late to try and save it.  The hawk is moving it."

I do not say, That isn't your woodpecker, she was a free bird, with her own life, and  her own choices.  She made the decision to come to your feeder.  No one owned her.  She was free!

Mom then asks, "Are they protected?"

I'm getting a very bad feeling about this,.  I say quietly, "They're protected."

My friend, a wife of one of the brothers, says nothing.

Mom says loudly, "I don't care if they are protected or not, GET THE GUN!"

I think,   I can't really be hearing this.  GET THE GUN?

My brain has frozen...This is a federally protected bird...  Protected since 1918 by the International Migratory Bird Treaty... You just can't go around shooting them!  Well evidentally they can...

This is going to be BAD.  VERY BAD.

I've got to get the hawk to fly without making the situation any socially worse.   Could this Thanksgiving possibly be any more excruciating?

I'm their guest from hell.

On the other hand they are my ultimate hosts from hell, and if this hawk gets shot, I'll never forgive myself.  Do I threaten to turn them into the Feds?  Obviously reason isn't going to be working here.

Sharpie has acquired immediate varmint status, and nobody is going to be asking anybody for a permit, which they likely wouldn't get anyway, it's a BIRD FEEDER issue, not the slaughter of the all the farms chickens....  Which they don't raise anyway.  In fact they rent  their land to commercial enterprises to crop,  there is no livestock whatsoever on this farm.

All this amazing crap whirls through my head in about 2 seconds.  There has been enough ruckus for the Sharpie's attention to be drawn to the house.

But she still isn't moving.  Finally she takes off towards the east.  I run for the back door.

Sure enough Dad is in the mud room loading  the gun.

Oh God.  What do I do?

 I don't pause I just run past Dad and head out into Wisconsin winter in my shirtsleeves and don't even notice.

Where is she, where is she?

If they shoot her I'll never forgive myself.  I'll have to report them or they'll just keep doing it. They can't afford it. 

Ugly, All utterly ugly.  What do I do to stop this?

WHERE IS SHE???  

I'm so hoping she is gone so there doesn't have to be a confrontation.  Talk about bad manners.

But no, there she sits right there in a tree in the back yard.  NO!

The brother who said the woodpecker was moving, appears with the gun.  He starts to take aim.

I am between the hawk and the gun but she is far above my head and can easily be shot over my head.

There is nothing to be done.  I turn square towards him,  plant all of 5 feet and 100 pounds of me and say in my best potent Shakespeare voice, DO NOT SHOOT THE BIRD.

He is completely full of adrenalin and isn't into be interrupted at all.

He responds loudly and confused, "WHAT?"

I hold my ground and say again, "DO NOT SHOOT THE BIRD."

He sputters and bounces the gun, says things but I'm too far gone to make sense of any of it or even remember it.

For whatever reason, I say, "Well if you're going to be angry, I can just go home."

I have no idea why.

He sputters, turns around, and goes into the house.  

I totter towards the hawk without even taking a picture of her in her current perch.  I know I have to get her out of here but I'm feeling really shaky legged.  I keep coming and  she finally takes off.  

The woodpecker is heavy for her.

She flies with the typical flap, flap, soar,  of  the Accipiter.

Keep flying.  Keep flying. 

 Then she turns to the NE.  I will her not to land on the power poles.  Keep flying out of sight.  Keep flying.

I  turn around, walk  towards the barn, and hide. 

What happened?  What?  I'm the company and I implied he wasn't being nice to the company?

Just as  I had had no idea anyone would shoot a hawk right in front of me, as matter of factly as buttering a roll.

 They had no idea I would mind if they did.

Different universes.

And as I hadn't driven myself and therefore had no car to escape in, eventually I went back in the house and took pictures of everyone gathered at the Thanksgiving table.

Then we played Turkey Track Dominoes, which I 'd never played before.  In fact I'd never played any games that used dominoes.  In a blur, I won by hundreds of points.  It embarrassed me.

Then time for the obligatory offer of leftovers.  And during  that shuffle, the Mom looked at me with tears in her eyes, and said, "Wouldn't you be very sad if your Woodpecker died?"

I said, "I was very sad that the Woodpecker died.  But I'd also be very sad if I knew the hawk was starving."

Other voices swept over us.  Then I had my coat on, my cake carrier in hand, and was gone.

Different universes.

Donegal Browne

Covering Eaglets with Grass? More Sharp-shin photos, a Red-tail Drinks, and a Sleeping Saw-whet

From R. of Illinois concerning the Blackwater Eaglets--

The adult covered the chicks with grasses. To keep them warmer? To camouflage them from predators above?

In chilly weather, if the sitting bird must leave the nest, some raptors, including Red-tails and Eagles, will cover their eggs with light materials such as grass. It has always been thought that it was done to conserve the heat of the eggs as the birds don't tend to do it in warm weather.

I would say that covering the eggs and covering the eaglets, has the same impetus, keeping them warm. These eaglets are so young that they can't regulate their body temperature yet, and not having much in the way of feathers means they can't retain what heat they do have. These are the big reasons that the parents continue to sit on them. When the nest is threatened whether there are eggs in it or young, the formel will cover them by sitting on them.

Even when people rented helicopters in order to see into Pale Male's nest to check for eggs, it was all in vain. Why? Because even for an urban hawk a helicopter hovering near the nest registers as a danger, so once the craft got into a position to be able to see into the nest, Lola had already plumped herself down on the contents.

On the other hand if things become so threatening that the larger bird, the female, must either take on the threat or spell the tiring tiercel, the tiercel bombs over to the nest but ordinarily doesn't sit on the young or eggs, he stands in the bowl and looks as scary as possible.

Why? Good question.

I've never even seen the behavior mentioned in the literature so it's doubtful anyone has attempted any hypothesis testing to find out.

Perhaps by the time the tiercel takes over the nest, it is clear to anyone in the area just where the nest is, having seen the female come off and the male go on that there is no reason to be unobtrusive and hunker down.

The male is shorter so standing puts him into a better defensive position? Seems doubtful.

Or perhaps he is just so het up, and testosteroned out he just can't sit down no matter what. Pale Male has been known to, when in a particularly intense nest protection skirmish, where several switches between Lola and he have taken place to spell each other, to stand in the bowl and literally rake his talons across the nest materials. The motion is very much in the style of an infuriated rooster. Though steaming, Pale Male as yet seems never to have done any damage to eggs.

Another New York Botanical Garden adventure with Pat Gonzalez--
While at the garden, I headed on down to the river bank (Bronx River) hoping to catch a glimpse of the elusive hooded merganser. The last time I got a clear shot was three days after the snow storm, but because there was so much snow on the way down to the bank, I didn't want to risk injury, so I settled for a long shot.

I'm not even there one minute when my buddy red-tail shows up. He gracefully glided over the water then touched down. (Note that the Red-tail is having a drink. For many years, the literature agreed it was likely that Red-tails didn't drink water but rather got their necessary liquid from their prey. Hawkwatchers in Central Park have watched Red-tails drink and bath for many years as there are many eyes number one and two they had the opportunity to see it because the resident birds are habituated to humans. D.B.) I creeped in very slooooooow. He stayed long enough for me to get the shot before taking off. As I walked away, quite happy with myself…

I barely noticed the two mergansers quietly going up river. I took several shots before they swam off.

More photos from Pat Gonzalez of Yesterday's Mystery Hawk the New York Botanical Garden, which I thought was a Sharp-shinned Hawk.

Pat then delved into the field guides and she agreed--Sharpie

JOHN BLAKEMAN'S TAKE ON THE MYSTERY HAWK?

Donna

I, too, think the accipiter in question is a Sharpie. It's hard to see the bug-eyed eyes, but the distance from the smallish beak to the chest is rather small. The head doesn't have a neck. It just sits on the bird's shoulders.

--John Blakeman

WE HAVE CONSENSUS!

Photograph by Pat Gonzalez
And here is a great photograph in which we can check out the field marks of a Sharpie tail.

From Peterson's Field Guide, Birds of Eastern and Central North America--"...folded tail is slightly notched or straight and narrowly tipped with white".

And in the above photograph there it is, the slightly notched tail narrowly tipped with white of a Sharp-shinned Hawk. TA DA!

Did you notice the amazingly long center toes of this bird?

Photograph by Pat Gonzalez

After her wonderful display of the important physical details we needed to identify her species, off she goes refreshed from her bath.

Northern Saw-whet Owl at the New York Botanical Garden

The sleepy little fur ball in the attached photo is a Northern saw-whet owl. I found him (or her) about 1/4 mile from where I left his neighbor, the much larger great horned owl. At one point he opened his eyes for a whole two seconds, then went back to snoozing. Here's a link to my you tube page.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2bHJbx1EzQ

As you can see he only does one thing on camera. zzzzzzzzzzz....

Pat

Valkyrie and Company, the Mystery Hawk at the NY Botanical Garden, and Mama of Queens

Photograph by Francois Portmann, www.fotoportmann.com/
Beautiful Valkyrie seemingly showing off her tail. Francois pointed out to me that if you look closely the ends of Valkyrie's tail feathers above the white band, they have a rufous tinge.

Photograph by Francois Portmann
Look at Valkyrie's strong focus and the command she has of her strong fluid body.

Photograph by Francois Portmann
An adult on 2nd Street with some left-over pigeon, eyeing the next one.

Photograph by Francois Portmann
An urban Crow doing what Crows love to do best, hassle Hawks. Take note a grand photograph to compare the size and shape difference between a Red-tailed Hawk and an American Crow in flight.

Photograph by Francois Portmann
Valkyrie heads for a pigeon who does a tummy up take off in order to make her get away.

Photograph by Francois Portmann
Val gains altitude.

Photograph by Francois Portmann
She does a balletic in air turn, talons at the ready.

Photograph by Francois Portmann
And it's time for a Rat Supper. At first I couldn't decide exactly what Valkyrie was eating.

Photograph by Francois Portmann
But as Val takes off with the trash, if you look carefully, you can see she is carrying the prey by a hairless tail.

Photograph by Pat Gonzales

A beautiful photograph of this species taking a bath. Most often they are photographed looking intense perched on the branch of a tree getting ready to zip over and grab something.

Remember yesterday's photograph of the squirrel attacking the hawk in the New York Botanical Garden by tour guide and novice Hawkwatcher Pat Gonzales? Here are two more photographs from Pat, also taken in the Botanical Garden. Here is her accompanying note--

When I first took these photos, I thought this was a young hawk. Today I spoke with a gentleman who told me that in addition to the three Red tails, the Botanical Garden is home to a kestrel as well as a Merlin. He told me I should look at the eyes. Upon closer examination, I noticed the beak was different as well as the eye.

I'd love to know what this little guy or gal is. : )

Photograph by Pat Gonzales

Pat, thanks so much for sending these in. You're right in that this is not a young Red-tailed Hawk, which would be a buteo, a large thick set raptor with broad wings and a wide rounded tail.

See Valkyrie above for a nice example of an immature Red-tailed Hawk. She has a perpendicularly streaked breast and is rounder and more heavily built. Check out her thick feet and talons.

Nor as it turns out, is it a Kestrel or a Merlin, both of which are Falcons. Falcons are sleek streamlined birds of prey, with pointed wings, and longish thin tails.

A Kestrel is about the size of a Jay and it is the only small hawk with a rufous tail and back.

A Merlin could be the size of your mystery hawk but the bars on the breast would run up and down on a Merlin instead of from side to side as is the case with this bird. And both a Merlin and a Kestrel would have a mustached black and white pattern on their faces.

What you photographed wasn't mentioned by your helpful birding friend. You photographed an accipiter, but after that your bird is still a bit of a mystery for us to figure out. It is one of two species which are very similar and have given many of us fits in attempts to identify them.

It is either a Sharp-shinned Hawk or a Cooper's Hawk. A Sharpie would be 10 to 14 inches in length and a Cooper's would be 14 to 20 inches.

And there lies the rub because a large Sharp-shinned and a small Cooper's Hawk would be the same size. And size is a large point of differentiation in making an identification of these species.

There are other field marks for identification but they are subtle unless a hawkwatcher has seen a number of each species, which sharpens the eye for the differences. Most of us haven't seen enough of either in the flesh for that to happen.

20 inches would make the bird the length of a small Red-tail and would be a large Cooper's. 10 inches in length, Jay length, but chunkier would mean this bird was a small Sharp-shinned.

Could you make a guess at length?

Both adults of both species have a slate colored back and rusty-barred breast. The folded tail of a Sharpie is straight across or slightly notched. That of a Cooper's is more rounded when folded and more broadly tipped with white. A difficult point without one of each to compare.

This point though may help with this particular bird. The top of a Cooper's Hawk's head is darker than the nape of the neck and is proportionally larger than the head of a Sharpie.

Look up at the photo of the bird bathing. The top of the head is not in the least darker than the nape even taking into account the shadow. I think this bird is a Sharp-shinned Hawk, Accipiter striatus.

Both species are bird eaters and use stealth and amazing feats of flying between tree branches to catch their prey. They are a bane of those people who can't accept that if they bring many birds into their yards with feeders to watch them that they will also draw accipters to eat those birds.

Once again we are reminded; there is no free lunch.

PLUS JEFF KOLLBRUNNER, www.jknaturegallery.com/ REPORTS THAT MAMA OF BRIARWOOD QUEENS RED-TAILS, BEGAN TO OVERNIGHT ON THE NEST MARCH 7th.

Donegal Browne