Cooper's hawk or Sharp-shinned hawk? (1 Viewer)

Hello All:
Late in the afternoon a cloud of rock doves flies over the plaza, their flight is not the normal flowing pattern of the rock pigeon. These guys are agitated.
I start looking for the source and spot a low flying accipiter, grab the digital camera (which I hand hold to the eyepiece of my binocular) and start taking some pics. This is not the easiest thing to do, but I am getting better at it. I was able to get about nine or ten pics of the juvenile accipiter. At first glance the pictures are not very sharp but they are useful for those who want to learn flight ID's for raptors.When you are observing raptors in flight most of the time all that you are dealing with is "shape" and these "shapes can change dramatically depending on what they are doing be it gliding, soaring or stooping.
In a time span of 40 seconds you can see the difference in the views of the same accipiter. This PHOTO COLLAGE represents the classic field challenge of IS IT A COOPER'S OR A SHARP-SHINNED HAWK?
What do you think it is?
Good birding,

Excellent set of photos David. I think it's really hard but in nearly all the pictures it looks to me quite large headed and when the tail is spread it looks very rounded. On one picture (2nd from top on right) it looks to have a fairly hefty bill. So I'm going to tentatively say it's a Cooper's Hawk.

Oh boy, another one. This is what I get:

For Cooper's: big head, relatively wide white terminal tail band, undertail coverts streaked (maybe), going for Rock Pigeons.

For Sharpie: wings cantilevered forward in flight, squared tail, thick barring under, plain dark brown wing coverts.

Score: 4 for Cooper's, 4 for Sharp-tailed. Stalemate.

Definitally not either a Sharpie or Cooper's. Wings appear too long. I'm thinking Roadside Hawk, hook-billed Kite, or another south of the border species.

That will be a triple serving of "humble pie" for me! Roaside hawk seems to fit the bill quite nicely. the wing is very much paddle shaped like the Roadside hawk. Thanks for your input Van. That's what I love about birding, it keeps you on your toes!
David McCauley
Tlacotalpan Veracruz