When I went out to get the mail on this drizzley afternoon I caught the sight of a big bird in my peripheral vision flying around the corner of the house, headed toward the back yard. Got inside and went to the patio to see if it had perched in one of the trees. Saw no sign, so I thought I'd go out to check the rain gauge. Got as far as the edge of the patio and saw this guy sitting by the back fence feeding on a critter of some sort. Boy was I surprised!!! Went back inside and told my bride to come out and look what found us. We proceeded to watch the feeding for about 30 minutes. My wife asked what the bird was eating and I said I thought it was a squirrel. She relied "Not my squirrel! (insert shriek)" - I quickly countered with "Maybe a mouse or a mole" - She hopes it was a mole.

Anyway, it is the biggest bird I have ever seen this up close and "in the wild". I think it is a juvenile Bald Eagle, but could be a Cooper's Hawk or some-such. So, if I am wrong, what is it?

BTW - the flat stone in the first and second picture (perpendicular to the fence) is about 7 inches long and the verts of the fence are 2 inches center to center and the bird is 18 to 20 inches away from the fence..

It is not an eagle.

It's a juvenile/immature Cooper's Hawk.

Great Pictures

Hawk

I think its a Sharp Shinned Hawk..

Edit...Nope not big enough.

Bird

Cooper's hawk

Mountain quail. Delicious.

Ignorant. Typical.

But, yes, hawk is tasty.

Duh, sheesh.

Think you nailed it..

On second thought, 4, it does look a tad different than what my 10 bird dogs always pointed for me.

Ya think?

Sheesh.

We grouped em all as "chicken hawks".

Yessir! Young Cooper's Hawk. Beautiful.

Coopers hawk for sure.

I get them in the yard feasting on mourning doves at the feeder.

raised pigeons in the 50's for racing. those coopers would get at least one a day. beautiful bird and awesome to watch in pursuit.

I'd pay money to watch that.

Very cool. And the price was right.

Living out in the middle of a valley with few trees, the cottonwoods and the globe willows around our house attract a lot of wintering birds as well as seasonal migrants. We also get our share of both Coopers and Sharp-shinned hawks. It has been fascinating to watch their aerial maneuvers as they nail everything from Eurasian Collared Doves to sparrows. They also usually get a few scaled quail from the house covey, too.

Before we finished screening in a new porch, one Sharp-shinned learned to chase birds into the back corner. He would nail them when they realized too late that the only way out was back past him.

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I'd pay money to watch that. [/quot

He did

Pretty bad assed looking bird!

Here's some excellent HD footage of a Coopers hanging out by a feeder.

Cooper's are bird hunters.A neighbor of mine used to raise fancy pigeons and somewhere I have some pictures of one from about 3 ft away that would not back away from his lunch. Once he had killed them all he moved on.

If about 16-22 inches head to tip of tail a Coopers. Damned near suicidal in their pursuit of birds.

Sharpshins are about a foot long and also primarily bird consumers. Sharpshin here:


A Coopers in hand. Smacked into house after a quail. The quail was dead, but the hawk came to.


Another Sharpshin

Both are pretty good at nailing quail and Eurasian doves around here. Low and fast over or around the house and down into the bird feeder area.

When these Goshawks show up, they do not even have to hunt. They come around the corner, and 5 out of 20 quail will commit suicide by flying into the house or a rig. This one, however, nailed a backyard bunny on really cold winter day.

I callem merlins. Sometimes they die, as we all due.

Yep, me too.

Got a couple of photos of a hawk that sometimes hangs out ambushing birds at our backyard feeders. We mostly see it in the late winter. It just plucked some feathers off a blackbird it killed and starting to tear hunks of flesh from it.
Not sure whether it's a Sharp-shinned or Coopers hawk.