Susan Collicot writes:
> Then I thought Cooper's, but the guide has confused me - it
> has a larger width measurement, but in the write-up it says the Cooper's wings
> are shorter than the sharp-shinned. (I've just read the description 3 times,
> and it's still reading, to me, as shorter than the sharp-shinned. I think I'm
> not getting something here...)

The Cooper's hawk has "proportionately shorter wings" than a sharpie,
meaning realtive to body size, wingspan, etc.
On an absolute scale they should actually be at least as large.
Good ID marks for Cooper's vs. Sharpie are
(1) Cooper's has a biggish head, sharpie has a small head.
(2) When the bird is flying in a straight line (not circling with its
tail fanned a little, etc.) a Cooper's will show a rounded tail tip,
sharpie has a squared tail tip.

Your bird sounds more like a Cooper's or Goshawk.

Neil J. Fergusson ******************
1405 1/2 NE 56th St. * Baffins *
Seattle, WA 98105 * or *
(206) 517-5466 * bust *
cccc at u.washington.edu ******************