Separating Cooper's and Sharp-shinned Hawks

Separating Cooper's Hawks and Sharp-shinned Hawks can be challenging. They do look a lot a like and there is a size overlap that can make it even more confusing. The identification can be made by following few simple rules and some practice.
Mark McKellar is a wildlife biologist with over 35 years of bird study experience. He has a degree in Fish and Wildlife Sciences from North Carolina State University and has worked for the Department of the Army, the Wildlife Departments of North Carolina and Missouri. He ran nature centers for many years in Missouri and Pennsylvania before buying the Backyard Bird Center in the Northland area of Kansas City. Mark has led hundreds of bird hikes both locally and abroad. He has taught classes about birds and other wildlife to groups of all ages and brings that knowledge to the customers of his retail business every day. More information about Mark at backyardbirdcenter.com/about-...
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[@Knowledge_wisdomwins]

Thank you for describing the differences of these birds. I've been seeing many hawks lately.

[@MarksBackyardBirds]

thank you for tuning in!

[@bebeautiful6613]

I’m in northeast Nebraska. I’ve been seeing glimpses of a hawk the last few days. I keep trying to take pictures. I decided to just really look at the hawk instead of taking pictures,because my pictures don’t come out good through my screen window.🫤 yesterday morning I had at least 100 little birds of different sorts. Finches, chickadees nuthatches yellow finches,ext..❤❤❤And then they were just gone. Today as I’m looking out into my yard,I see the hawk again,beautifully perched on my platform feeder with its back to me. I was able to identify it as a sharp shinned. I use my birds of Nebraska field guide.Of course I go to the Internet to learn more about that hawk and find your video, I greatly appreciate your videos and all the information you share with us. With Kansas being so close to Nebraska, we can relate on a lot of the birds. Thank you so much.😊

[@MarksBackyardBirds]

Excellent! Thanks for letting me know you enjoy the videos.

[@julieackerson3111]

I have a couple of mature Cooper’s Hawks that have been visiting my yard for a couple of months now. One looks like a female (larger) and another looks like a male (smaller). It’s actually very stressful because they are really targeting the Mourning Doves that visit my yard. I placed their food underneath a short table with many plants on the sides so the Hawks won’t be able to see them as well. At least not while they are distracted eating their millet/black oil seeds. Bless their hearts and what not, but they were coming so often that eventually I had to scare them away. No I didn’t hurt them or harass them, but I do try to annoy them by playing music very loud. In the number of times I saw them trying to take a dove....they missed, but God knows that happens when I am not looking. I also discovered what appeared to be the female hawk prying into my hooded oriole’s nest. There were still 2 babies in there that hadn’t fletched yet. I turned on the hose and sent a shower that way without hitting her of course. Luckily the female looked into the nest but chose not to take the baby hooded oriole(s). Although same can’t be said for the American crow, only 4 days earlier, a crow took (to eat) a baby oriole still stranded to its nest. Not sure if the Cooper’s hawk chose not to take the baby oriole because I distracted it....or because they do prefer the “mourning dove.” Have to be honest that having the crows during nesting season and having the Cooper’s hawks around has been very stressful 😔Will the Cooper’s hawks ever leave, or are they here to stay (San Diego, CA)? I also had like 8 California Ground Squirrels and suddenly in the course of 7 days....all gone. No sight of them at all. All their seeds, nuts, pecans, walnuts, peanuts, veggies, and fruits were left behind. Any thought of what could have happened to them all?

[@MarksBackyardBirds]

Wherever there is food, their will be predators. The crows and hawks have to feed their babies too.

[@knoxtheox897]

Recently there have been tons of different types of feeder predators. I had trouble figuring out what hawk was killing all the starlings, and I found out it Is a sharp-shinned hawk. At first, I thought it was a merlin because it was small, and was killing birds. a couple of days ago I saw a prairie falcon kill a dove in my yard, I was astonished. it was there for so long. thanks for the help figuring out what hawk it was👍

[@MarksBackyardBirds]

Seeing a Prairie Falcon is amazing at any time! They typically only hunt wide open country.

[@kevinlakeman5043]

Not sure where you live, but I definitely never hear ppl claim to see or even mention peregrines here where I live. What I hear again & again is the Red-tailed hawk. It's like the default name for any hawk around here. Ppl look surprised when I mention Sharp-shinned, Red-shouldered, or marsh hawks, all which live in my state to some degree. But Cooper's are very common here.

[@MarksBackyardBirds]

I am in Kansas City. Several years ago MDC did a reintroduction project of Peregrine Falcons that got a lot of publicity. I think people remember that and think that must be what they see chasing birds in their backyards even though they rarely do that. Cooper’s are quite common here as well.

[@acousticshadow4032]

We have had several pairs of Peregrine Falcons hanging out in our NH town of 40K. In fact, a pair lives in a church steeple year round, which is in a residential neighborhood. Not disagreeing with your general point, but you can't rule them out.

[@MarksBackyardBirds]

That is amazing. As their recovery continues and populations continue to grow, I hope this becomes a more common sight!

[@emptychair8141]

They can be in the areas of cities. They just aren't likely going to be found stalking your bird feeders is what he means. We have them in our city. They eat pigeons off rooftops

[@cherie4868]

Hi Mark I really loved your video on the differences between Coopers Hawk/Sharp Shinned Hawk. However I am still confused. I've had a Coopers Hawk I'm pretty sure visit a few times and I think a RedTailed Hawk. I live in California high desert. The one I saw today seemed like a juvenile Coopers Hawk. I'm not sure though it stayed about 5 minutes had a drink I know it saw me but I stayed still. I was wondering your thoughts on this been studying them since pandemic I love ALL the birds here interesting wildlife here in the desert. 🏜️ 🌵🌻🌞🌎

[@MarksBackyardBirds]

Cooper’s does seem like the better bet to be there this time of year.

[@cherie4868]

@@MarksBackyardBirds thank you for replying and your expert opinion 😁

[@emptychair8141]

Did you mention the size in general. Aren't Sharp shinned always smallish . Like size of dove or blue jay. I lived in surrounded ng baltimore area least 17 yrs of birding. I could never make an accipiter into a sharpshinned. Til Abt my 16th yr of birding there. I immediately could tell the accipiter was Small . More agile . Got pretty clear photo thru window Abt 15 ft away. Posted to bird group . Everybody was split decision !!!! And I do usually like you said in end of video. If I get one. It's automatically coopers . Worry Abt it later. Unless its just too small then it'd be sharpie.

[@MarksBackyardBirds]

You can send a pic to me and I can give my analysis of the bird. I did talk about size. A male sharpie is quite small, about the size of a blue jay but the overlap size wise is with the female sharpie and a male Cooper’s. Female Cooper’s are big and hard to mistake.

[@bikerdog5554]

Why no reference to voice differences?

[@MarksBackyardBirds]

Thanks for pointing that out. When I recorded this it was just for my local Facebook group and it was in winter. I was focused on the visual separation as they are not very vocal that time of year. Need to do an updated version.