Kevin Purcell wrote:

<< If the accipiter caught the kestrel on the ground or perched in a tree it
would eat it. Sharpies and Coopers are ambush hunters. They're not going to
take a bird (especially a Falco) in flight though a juvinile might attempt
it. >>

Well, you should be very careful about how firmly you believe the stuff you
see in a book. Accipiters are absolutely ambush hunters, but they are not
restricted to it. As falcons go, kestrels are by far the slowest.

I am a falconer that has spent over 10 years specializing in the natural
history of accipiters. My training is very different from most other
naturalists - I focus on the close observation of a few individual animals
over long periods of time. While the biologists and other less specialized
naturalists see the forest, I am busy examining the minute details of an
individual tree.

A coopers hawk is perfectly capable of flying down a kestrel in direct
flight. I have never sent his happen, but many friends of mine have watched
in horror as a wild coopers scooped up their trained kestrel and flew off
with it. Coopers hawks are also fond of making their ambush approach from a
long ways out. I have watched wild coopers hawks do this from several
hundred yards away.

You are certainly correct that a juvenile will attempt attacks that a more
experienced raptor know to be a waste of energy. The bird in the photo was
a juvenile.

<< I suspect the behavior was the other way around. The kestrel was
harassing the accipiter. I did ask the OP but didn't get a reply. >>

That's quite like as well. My 11 year old goshawk has been harassed by
several kestrels. Kestrels love to mob larger raptors, when they perceive
themselves to be in a strategically safe position.

<< But the hawk in the photo is doing something interesting: it has turned
its head to look over its left shoulder. It's cranked it right around.

A (no neck bowling pin) Sharpie can't do that. But a Cooper's can. >>

Um, your flat wrong about that. Sharpshin hawks, like nearly all birds,
sleep with their head between their shoulder blades. A sharpie's neck is no
less flexible than a coopers hawk.

I am completely unfamiliar with the reference you indicated, but as I said
before, you should be careful about what you believe just cause its in a
book. The book may be written by someone who is grossly under-informed
about a point they are making. In this case, I really have to wonder where
the info came from.

I have held several sharpshinned hawks in my hand while helping a friend
band migrating hawks, and there certainly was no impression of them not
having a neck.

<< The bird photographed is a juvenile (white spots on the back) Cooper's
Hawk. >>

That's certainly possible.

If the photo were more clear, it would be possible to focus on head shape
and several proportional features to figure out the ID, but its far too
fuzzy to tease any of that out.

Its NOT a goshawk. It IS an accipiter. Its also a juvenile. More than that
cannot be determined without more information.

Of course, this is all academic anyway - the observer could insist it's a
blue-footed Asian eagle, and none of us could prove them wrong.

Geoff Hirschi
Master Falconer
Snohomish, Wa