This is what I love about Accipiters!!!

After reading other comments, I was thinking, "That's what I get for going first!"

I was also taught that the forward set eye was a Cooper's fieldmark. I have used it in the field, thinking in terms of "1/3 back = Coopers, 1/2 back = Sharpie"

I always thought that the width of the breast streaks was a bit iffy, only using that when they were CLEARLY very thin or very thick.

-Rolan

Pygmyowl9 at aol.com wrote:
Bill (et al.):
To start off, nice photo Bill! At first glance, I saw the brown-streaked breast, eyes set well forward on the face, and called this bird a juvie Cooper's Hawk. (It is extremely unclear to me why anyone would call an obvious accipiter with brown streaking on its breast an adult. I can see the difficulty in distinguishing between Sharpie and Coop, but adults of both species have orangish barring.)
The several Field Guides and Hawk ID guides I own state that a forward set eye is a Coop field mark, yet some people have used this as a basis for their Sharpie ID. In fact, in my 20+ years of birding I've found that this is the most useless field mark authors mention.
That said, my own conclusion is that this is a juvie Sharp-shinned Hawk: coarse brown streaking on the breast (Coops have finer streaking), a hint of an off-white supercilium (Coops don't have this), and lack of any reddish tint/orange buff on the face (which juvie Coops have), as well as points others have made. But I'm willing to be talked out it.
Good birding, Mike

Michael Marsh
Portland, OR
PygmyOwl9 at aol.com

"There will always be people who say slow down, slow down (with regard to stem cell research). I guarantee you none of them have relatives in wheelchairs."
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Rolan Nelson
Fircrest, WA
rnbuffle at yahoo.com

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