Sharpie or Cooper's Hawk, Arizona, USA (1 Viewer)

[fugl]

Well, now that the "short outer tail feathers are diagnostic of Cooper's" canard has been put to rest, we're left with skinny legs vs. face/head color & patterning. Personally, I'm still in the Sharpie camp though not with huge confidence.

 

[JANJ]

Notice the legs on this young Cooper´s.

http://www.pbase.com/btblue/image/119125876

JanJ

 

[ceasar]

There is another reason that I believe this bird is likely to be a male Cooper's Hawk rather than a female Sharp-shinned Hawk. Again, according to Wheeler, it is nesting season for Cooper's in southern latitudes from March through June and April through July in Northern latitudes. Sharp-shin nesting isn't that specific and he notes that it is between May and Mid-August throughout the USA

Once again I have to quote Wheeler from his RAPTORS of North America on their Nesting habits. See page 169 in his Western Edition in the paragraph on NESTING of Sharp-shinned Hawks "Females assume all nest duties, and males hunt. Males are not known to incubate." So female Sharpies are not doing much if any hunting during this period.

In the Chapter on the nesting of Cooper's Hawks at page 184 of the Western Edition Wheeler notes: "Female tends to nesting duties; male hunts but incubates while female feeds. Male rarely delivers prey to the nest: it is transferred to female at a point away from the nest and the female feeds the nestlings." He goes on to note that extra food is cached near the nest for later use.

Bob

 

[fugl]

There is another reason that I believe this bird is likely to be a male Cooper's Hawk rather than a female Sharp-shinned Hawk. Again, according to Wheeler, it is nesting season for Cooper's in southern latitudes from March through June and April through July in Northern latitudes. Sharp-shin nesting isn't that specific and he notes that it is between May and Mid-August throughout the USA

Once again I have to quote Wheeler from his RAPTORS of North America on their Nesting habits. See page 169 in his Western Edition in the paragraph on NESTING of Sharp-shinned Hawks "Females assume all nest duties, and males hunt. Males are not known to incubate." So female Sharpies are not doing much if any hunting during this period.

In the Chapter on the nesting of Cooper's Hawks at page 184 of the Western Edition Wheeler notes: "Female tends to nesting duties; male hunts but incubates while female feeds. Male rarely delivers prey to the nest: it is transferred to female at a point away from the nest and the female feeds the nestlings." He goes on to note that extra food is cached near the nest for later use.

Yeah, that's true of most birds of prey, the females incubate the eggs and brood the chicks, the males do the hunting and provisioning of females and young. Circumstantial evidence is all very well, but nests sometimes fail and not all adult females are tied-up in this way. So at the end of the day, all we have to go by is the photograph and what it shows . . ..