Mad Birder Scott Sainsbury got this great shot of a Cooper’s Hawk on his birdfeeder yesterday in Moretown. On June 11th Scott will lead a Spring bird walk on his property, Cross Haven Farm. Keep a look out for great birds…you never know where they will turn up!
November 8th, 2011 at 7:10 pm
This is a Sharp-shinned Hawk. Cap, nape, and back color are basically the same. For this to be a Coop, the cap would need to be darker (blue-black), the nape paler.
Because the bird is balancing, we can see the outer tail feather that is often tucked in behind the other more central tail feathers and it is the same length and has the same banding pattern as the interior tail feathers. If this was a Cooper’s Hawk that outside feather — on our left — would be a bandwidth shorter.