Well, go someplace where you can see lots of both species, and then go
again, and again, and again.... I spent most of my September weekends for
the last six or seven years at the hawk watch site on the Marin Headlands
in CA (a place, by the way, with an absolutely stunning view of the S.F.
Bay. Worth going to see any time you're in the area, as long as the fog is
out). After a few hundred sitings, there are discernable differences that
one can learn, but it takes a lot of practice. Also, get _Hawks in Flight_
by Dunne, Sibley and Sutton, a book filled with information on the
subtleties of raptor i.d. Now, if only I can figure out how to tell the
dowitchers apart...

>My yard was raided this afternoon by what I finally decided
>(half-heartedly) was a juvenile male Cooper's Hawk. It sat on the
>neighbor's fence eating what appeared to be a female House Sparrow.
>
>How do people ID them with brief glimpses in flight!? Geeezzzzz!
>--
>Michael Brown
>Puyallup, WA
>borealis at borealis.seanet.com


Rob Saecker
Olympia