Tips for identifying Cooper’s and sharp-shinned hawks Hawks
Cooper’s and sharp-shinned hawks have been arriving here since mid-August to spend the winter, and their numbers will increase by November.
Readers have been sending photographs of these hawks in their yards or neighborhoods and asking for help identifying them.
The photographs show either juvenile Cooper’s or juvenile sharp-shinned hawks. They can be difficult to distinguish and often befuddle experienced birders.
Cooper’s hawks breed across the U.S. and Cana- da, including parts of Texas but rarely in our area. Sharp-shinned hawks breed in portions of the eastern and western U.S. and across Canada.
They’re built for speed and agility, enabled by long tails and a 2-foot wingspan with rounded wingtips. When flying, zipping across a backyard or stand of trees, they’ll suddenly change course in pursuit of prey. Their nimble flight makes them skilled predators of songbirds, which are their primary diet.
They’ll also hunt small mammals, particularly squirrels. One person sent a photograph of a rabbit in the clutches of an immature Cooper’s hawk.
Adult Cooper’s and sharpshinned hawks have a similar appearance, with reddishorange bars across the breasts and bluish-gray backs. It’s therefore not uncommon for people to confuse one of the hawks for the other.
Here are a few identification clues.
Adult Cooper’s hawks are about the size of crows, with a block-headed appearance and a dark cap on the head contrasting with a pale nape. Sharp-shinned hawks are about the size of blue jays, with rounded heads and gray hoods going from the crown to the nape.
Because female sharp-shinned hawks could be nearly the same size as male Cooper’s hawks and vice versa, be careful in judging size.
In flight, a Cooper’s hawk looks like a flying cross, whereas a sharp-shinned hawk looks like a flying T. Cooper’s hawks have a graduated tail, rounded off at edges by the tip with a broad white band. Sharp-shinned hawks have a straight tail, squared off at edges by the tip with a narrow white band.
Juveniles of both species have
• Both Cooper’s and sharp-shinned hawks are in the genus, as are goshawks, which rarely show up in Texas.
• Their numbers increase in our area after the first autumn cold front.
• Poultry farmers call Cooper’s hawks “chicken hawks,” and bird-watchers call sharp-shinned hawks “sharpies.”
• Cooper’s hawks are named after American zoologist William Cooper (1798-1864), and sharpshinned hawks are named for ridges on the legs that look like shins on human legs. similar markings, with brown backs and dark streaks on their white undersides. But the streaks on a juvenile sharpshinned are denser and extend farther down the belly than on juvenile Cooper’s.
Again, pay attention to the shape of the head and tail to help distinguish the two juvenile birds.
If you can’t always tell a Cooper’s from a sharp-shinned hawk, you’ll be in the company of many an expert birder.