I photographed this bird in my neighborhood in coastal central California on April 16. By clicking on "comments" at the end of this post you can enter your ID and the reasons for the ID. Good Luck. I will post the answer and supporting reasons for that ID on Thursday night (sorry, I couldn't do it Wednesday night.) (You can mouse click on this or any of the photos in the posts here for an enlargement.)
My guess is an imm. Cooper's Hawk.
ReplyDeletewhy?
ReplyDeleteLooks like a Sharpshinned Hawk. Tail markings--bands and the color of the white on brown
ReplyDeleteGreat blog! Am waiting for an answer to this challenge.
ReplyDeleteOK ... although the Northern Goshawk is a rare visitor to your area, I note uneven tail bands and slight speckles on the back. The color of the eye is neither as light as a juvenile of any of the accipiters, nor as dark as the adults. It's a tough one. I have experience in the field with Sharpies and Coopers ... but I'll go out on the limb and guess Juvenile Northern Goshawk.
ReplyDeleteImm. Cooper's Hawk with yellow eyes, light breast streaking, rounded tail end with whitish tip. Tell me why I'm right or wrong.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw/AboutBirdsandFeeding/accipiterIDtable.htm
http://www.flickr.com/photos/teddyllovet/4371733433/
Since this hawk does not have the shape of a buteo, or the long wings or dark eyes of a falcon, everyone has correctly stated it is an Accipiter. Northern Goshawk can be ruled out because it would have darker, larger and more extensive streaking in the underparts, a more prominent white supercilium, and it would likely have even more zig-zaggy tail stripes. (The more obvious fluffy white undertail might not be visible when perched.) This hawk is either a Cooper's or a Sharp-shinned. I believe it is a Cooper's because it has a longer neck and head, a squarish looking head, a more rounded tail tip with a broad white terminal band (this is confused by the tail feathers to the rear which appear darker and more squarish), the eye is closer to the front of the head (not near the middle like a Sharpie), it has a lower center of gravity than the broader shouldered and chested Sharpie, and it seems to have relativey thick short legs. A Sharpie often has darker more extensive streaking in the underparts. It does look rather bug-eyed like Sharpies often look and it was not obviously larger in the field like a female Cooper's, but I think a majority of the fieldmarks are consistent with a male Cooper's Hawk. The eye was pretty yellow in the field and if it looks otherwise in this picture that may be a product of the lighting when the picture was taken, or the camera, or the blog. I saw the bird again today and it again would not fly, but sat high in the sycamore - I have not seen it in flight. Accipiters are very difficult in the field and the most experienced hawk observers I have seen are often the most cautious at differentiating Cooper's and Sharp-shinned; they leave many unidentified as to species.
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