photo cropped and lightened below...
Thanks to Hendrik Herlyn for this response: I think your initial impression was correct - this is an immature Cooper's Hawk. The tail is too long for Red-shouldered, which also doesn't have so many bars (and you are right, it would have narrower white bands). The underside looks too evenly streaked for a RSHA, and the head pattern and color is very typical for a young Cooper's.
And Wayne Hoffman for this: You were right the first time - Cooper's Hawk. In addition to the characters you mentioned, the head is relatively small. The underparts pattern does look sort of like a Red-shouldered with the bibbed chest look and paler belly, but is far paler (fewer streaks) them most young Red-shoulders.
Yes, you were right in the first place. It IS pretty reddish in front, which seems a bit odd, and fairly heavy streaking for Coop, but definitely accipiter w/long tail (w/wide pale bands) and short wings, and Coop vs Sharpy because you can see the outer tail feathers (the ones on our side from this view) that are nicely stacked w/the outer ones noticeably shorter than the inner (behind) ones.
ReplyDeleteCan't add much to what others have said. On Red-shouldered Hawks of all ages, the light bands are noticeably narrower than the dark bands. On Accipiters the dark and light bands are of approximately equal width.
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