My mom spotted this hawk in her backyard in Allentown, PA over Thanksgiving. We thought it odd to see a hawk so far within the city. These pictures were taken from inside, about thirty feet away. It looked like he was eating a small rabbit or vole, but by the time he flew away there was nothing left to ID.
Does anyone have an idea what kind of hawk this is?
Could it be a sharp-shinned hawk? My elder daughter suggested this (credit where credit is due, y’know).
…or possibly, the Cooper’s hawk, with which it is often confused.
I’m going to go with juvenile Cooper’s Hawk.
I’m not a raptor expert, but it doesn’t look a whole lot different than a Red Tailed Hawk though I’m sure it is.
Hawks in the city are not rare. In Dallas proper I see them all the time. Try taking the time to look for them on the light poles etc. You might be surprised!
“Sharp-shinned (Accipiter striatus) and Cooper’s (Accipiter cooperii) hawks commonly prey on feeder birds, and they are frequently reported by FeederWatchers.”
That makes sense; it could have been a smaller bird, given the size. I just assumed a mammal, since it was at the edge of the garden.
I’d say juvenile cooper’s because of the thin, dark, discreteness of the striping on the underside. On a sharp-shinned I think they would be more likely to be a little more diffuse, thicker and lighter.
Cooper’s hawk?
To be fair, I did boost the contrast on the pictures before posting them as, since I was shooting through double-pane glass windows, they were a little washed-out to start with.
I was going to say, “1957 Super Hawk” but you all went the other direction…
Interesting description on the immature cooper’s by the way - note it says no pale eye-stripe, yet the picture shows a pale eye-stripe :D.
I dunno - the subject definitely has the distinct pale eye-stripe, but the belly and beak looks a little more cooperish to me. But I’m a mere amatuer - guess we’ll just have to let Colibri or one of other real ornithologists decide :).
Some immature sharp-shinned shots:
http://www.granstrand.net/gallery/raptors/sharp_shinned_hawk_2a
http://www.backyardbirdcam.com/gallery/sharp-shinned.htm
Some immature cooper’s shots:
http://www.themodernapprentice.com/coopers.htm
Here is the USGS identifier page for hawks, eagles, and kites.
Juvenile accipiters are one of the toughest ID problems among raptors. Sharp-shins and Cooper’s are particularly tough, due to the variability and overlap in size and other characters.
I’ll admit when I saw the photo, my first impression was Cooper’s. But after consulting a bunch of references, I’m going to go with Sharp-shinned, mainly on the relative size and shape of the head. Cooper’s has a big, squarish head, and this individual just seems too small-headed to be a Coop. Also, the eyes of a Cooper are placed more forward on the head. This individual has a small, rounded head with the eyes placed more centrally.
This shows the small, rounded head of the Sharpie, in this case an adult:
http://huskertsd.tripod.com/species/photos/sharp_shinned_hawk.jpg
These show the large, blocky head of a Coop, almost squared-off at the back, and the forward placement of the eyes:
http://www.friendsofsherwoodisland.org/Photos/Hand/BoP/AJH-coopershawk.jpg
Other points:
Breast streaking. As you say, the breast streaking is relatively narrow, and that definitely suggests Cooper’s. However, this is a variable characteristic, and many young Sharpies are similar to a Coop in this character. Note that an immature Sharpie shown on your second link has thin breast streaks.
Superciliary. The distinctness of the eye-stripe definitely suggests Sharp-shinned, although Cooper’s can also have an eye-stripe.
Legs. Cooper’s has heavier legs and feet; this bird seems to have relatively thin legs and small feet. This shows a Cooper’s feet:
Compare to InternetLegend’s first link.
Admittedly, some of these points are equivocal, but I think on balance they indicate Sharp-shinned.
A photo of the tail could help clinch it, since that of the Sharp-shinned is squarish while that of the Cooper’s is rounded. Alvis, did you happen to take one?
I was going to say Tony Hawk. Could the skateboards be out of shot?
I’m prepared to capitulate on this one - you make a solid case.
Though couldn’t we just split the difference and call it a hybrid like we do with weird ducks :D? Actually that’s an interesting question - do the overlapping accipiters ever hybridize? Somebody must have done some genetic work on them.
I can’t say I’ve ever heard of the North American accipiters hybridizing, or of any comparative genetic work on them. Of course, without genetic analysis it would be pretty tough to confirm a hybrid, considering the overlap in most characters.
According to some, species such as ducks are more prone to produce hybrids, because isolation is maintained by dramatically different male plumage and courtship behaviors. Because these generally function well before mating ever takes place, there has been no need to develop incompatability between gametes that would produce sterility. With species that appear very similar, such as these raptors, it is more likely that they have some kind of genetic incompatibility that prevents hybridization even if mating takes place.
Sorry; no better of the tail than the profile posted earlier.
Does the density of the urban setting contribute any info? I see Coopers in Seattle proper, but have never seen a Sharp-Shinned in such a place. But then, I see Bald Eagles over the city too, and not too long ago watched an Osprey freight a huge fish–massive labored wingbeats–over the busiest part of Ballard.
I’ve certainly seen more urban/suburban Cooper’s, but I have seen Sharp-shinned hawks in Golden Gate Park in SF and on one memorable occasion one actually took a Brewer’s Blackbird directly over my head in a thick crush of students in front of San Francisco State University’s bizarre-looking student union ( that is actually high on my list of neatest bird encounters ever ). Granted that is right near Lake Merced and the nearby municipal golf course, but it was still fairly urban for all that.
In the New York area Sharp-shins are probably at least 3 or 4 times more common than Cooper’s. We always get a few of each on the Bronx-Westchester Audubon Christmas count each year. We usually have one or two Goshawls as well. People sometimes are dubious of counts which seem to have “too many” Cooper’s, because of the tendency to misidentify Sharpies as the rarer species.
In the large city parks of the Bronx, we normally get Ospreys, Red-tailed, Red-shouldered, Sharp-shinned and Cooper’s Hawks, plus the occasional Rough-legged Hawk and Goshawk.