What Kind Of Hawk is this?
Apr 1, 2016 15:59:31 #
Hi,I was at thirteen Curves Road,Delaware and saw this hawk.It looks too small to be a Cooper and dont have thge red tail of a Red Tail Hawk.
Apr 1, 2016 16:11:23 #
Hawks are fairly hard to identify because they are so darn similar but I'd say you took some really nice shots of a young red tail.
Apr 1, 2016 16:11:26 #
Tough call. The head makes me think Cooper's however. Two things to keep in mind, male Cooper's are quiet a bit smaller than the females and not all Red-tailed hawks have red tails, they are however huge compared to a Cooper's.
Apr 1, 2016 16:13:25 #
Could be a Sharp-shinned. Sharpies are from 4 to 6 inches smaller than a Cooper's.
Apr 1, 2016 16:14:15 #
rmorrison1116 wrote:
Hawks are fairly hard to identify because they are so darn similar but I'd say you took some really nice shots of a young red tail.
What rmorrison says is true, could be red-tailed. They are our most varied hawk and if young are just that much harder to ID.
Apr 1, 2016 16:16:01 #
arthurfweidner wrote:
Hi,I was at thirteen Curves Road,Delaware and saw this hawk.It looks too small to be a Cooper and dont have thge red tail of a Red Tail Hawk.
Young something. Due to age you'll need an expert. I know birds well enough to see that it is a juvenile. What Hawks are common where you took the image. You realize finding a rare species is rare.
Apr 1, 2016 16:23:09 #
it might be a Seattle sea hawk both can't play ball anyway :hunf: :hunf:
Apr 1, 2016 16:30:08 #
After closer examination of what tail you can see, I'm changing my mind, it's a young Cooper, the bars in the tail are too far apart for a red tail.
Apr 1, 2016 16:30:24 #
mickeys wrote:
it might be a Seattle sea hawk both can't play ball anyway :hunf: :hunf:
:-P ;-)
Apr 1, 2016 16:35:06 #
rmorrison1116 wrote:
After closer examination of what tail you can see, I'm changing my mind, it's a young Cooper, the bars in the tail are too far apart for a red tail.
What tail, 2 inches of it? I see one dark band, where is the next? Are Cooper's common in that area? In So. CA we have mostly Red Tailed, and many fewer Cooper's, Red Shouldered, etc. Time for the Peterson's Guide...
It for sure is a Juvenile.
Apr 1, 2016 16:46:19 #
lamiaceae wrote:
What tail, 2 inches of it? I see one dark band, where is the next? Are Cooper's common in that area? In So. CA we have mostly Red Tailed, and many fewer Cooper's, Red Shouldered, etc. Time for the Peterson's Guide...
It for sure is a Juvenile.
It for sure is a Juvenile.
Coopers are common here. Young red tail tail stripes are smaller and closer together. In the space of two stripes on the bird in the photos, a red tail would have 5 or 6 easy. Both species are common from coast to coast but red tail is most common of all.
Apr 1, 2016 16:59:21 #
rmorrison1116 wrote:
After closer examination of what tail you can see, I'm changing my mind, it's a young Cooper, the bars in the tail are too far apart for a red tail.
Good catch, the darker tail bars on a red-tailed are only abut 1/2 the width of the lighter bars where as the cooper's are roughly equal in width.
Apr 1, 2016 17:54:15 #
Thanks to everyone who replyed,I love this site.I learn something new every day.
Apr 1, 2016 19:17:17 #
Apr 1, 2016 19:40:19 #
lukevaliant wrote:
wf2b is right i think , it is a sharp shinned
Thank you. They are more common than Cooper's. It is most likely an immature. They occasional come to my bird feeders to try and get a bird meal.
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