Sharp shinned or Cooper's Hawk (1 Viewer)

[corralup]

There seems to be a debate over my hawk I found in the Rio Grande Valley-Texas. Both pics same hawk. Thanks ahead of time.

 

[RJP]

Interesting. Most marks seem to lean Sharpie: eyes look big in the head, head looks round and not too big, underside streaking is heavy. The legs don't look "pencil thin" - but that's not a very reliable mark. It's hard to tell if the tail feathers are all the same length, but at least I'm not seeing feathers that are clearly shorter. I'd provisionally call it a Sharpie.

 

[fugl]

Agree with RJP

 

[tril42]

Nice shots, especially the second!

 

[AdrianB73]

Any shots of the tail spread open, or of the underside of the tail? I'm leaning Cooper's hawk here, but I'll refrain from calling it from these shots alone.

 

[corralup]

Any shots of the tail spread open, or of the underside of the tail? I'm leaning Cooper's hawk here, but I'll refrain from calling it from these shots alone.

Here's a shot from the back side.

 

[TLeukering]

The markings on the flanks are not blackish streaks, but reddish blobs = Sharp-shinned. Some Sharpies can match Cooper's underparts pattern, but I've never seen a Coop that look like this.

 

[tril42]

I get a Cooper's feeling with this one, though I couldn't swear to it. I don't think the underparts are unusual for a Cooper's--see here for a picture of an accipiter with similar markings on the flanks, whose graduated tail clearly shows it to be a Cooper's Hawk.