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All:
I thought I'd stay out of this, because the responders have it correct as an
adult Sharp-shinned Hawk, but the lingering concern about Cooper's needs to be
dispelled. There is nothing about this bird that resembles Cooper's, adults of
which have a longer head (making the eye seem more forward) often displaying a
bulging "hackle" at the nape. Also, they are distinctly dark-capped,
contrasting with the pale gray nape. And, BTW, most images taken against a
background sky or snow have the subject underexposed and too dark overall (and
sometimes washed with cyan or blue), obscuring details. You should brighten
such images in a photo editing program or brighten your screen. Brightening
can lead to colour distortions, so should be used with care, but it's good for
bringing out contrasts of plumage markings such as barring patterns and a
contrastingly dark cap.
Richard Stern is right about closed tails being less easy to interpret
than open
ones, but only from above. From below, Cooper's and Sharp-shinned are very
different, and anyone obtaining photos of perched birds for diagnosis should
aim to get shots from below of the tail. (The broader white margin on the tail
of Cooper's seldom useful, as it can be sullied and worn.)
Cooper's tails are graduated, with the tail feathers thus from below:
______
____))))
______))))
Sharp-shinned tails are not, and thus:
_______
_______)
_______)
From above, only the longest outer tail feathers are seen, so this is of no
help.
All best, Ian
Ian McLaren
Quoting Peter Payzant <pce@accesswave.ca>:
> Hi, all-
>
> A friend sent me some photos of a bird in his back yard and asked for
> an ID. I'm very rusty and so I'm appealing to the collective wisdom of
> NatureNS folk for assistance. Here are the photos:
> http://www.pbase.com/ppayzant/id_request[1] .
>
> Thanks
>
> Peter Payzant
>
>
>
> Links:
> ------
> [1] http://www.pbase.com/ppayzant/id_request
>
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