I had an immature (pale eyes) Sharp Shinned/Cooper hawk in my front yard
this morning for about 20-30 minutes. It casually preened and fluffed in
full view about 10 feet from a picture window so I had excellent views with
binoculars and video camera. I guess I'll never be able to definitively
tell the difference between Sharp Shinned and Coopers hawks. What I looked
at was short tail with narrow (what's that mean?) white tip (Sharp Shinned),
white mottled with brown chest changing to all white belly (Cooper). The
legs appeared too heavy for SharpShinned. Size seemed small for Cooper.
Head and back same color (Cooper).

Lovely bird to watch even though it caused great chagrin to the 20 or so
crows who had dropped by for a peanut breakfast.

John Shelton
Portland, Oregon