Sharp-shinned Hawk kills an American Goldfinch |
It was another snowy day in the coulees today. I was sitting at the kitchen table eating a late lunch when I heard the boom of birds bouncing off my kitchen windows.
No birds were injured by the plate glass, but I spotted a male American Goldfinch dead on the ground, victim of the other predator in my yard. An accipiter was staning over the body.
I knew it was an immature (brown plumage and yellow eye), but which one? A Cooper's Hawk or a Sharp-shinned?
Sharp-shinned Hawks have heavy streaking on the breast; Cooper's have light streaking. What's "light?" What's "heavy?"
Sharp-shinned Hawks have heavy streaking on the breast; Cooper's have light streaking. What's "light?" What's "heavy?"
I see so few of them, I wasn't sure. So I went to my bookshelf and pulled out the Photographic Guide to North American Raptors.
The photo on page 34 showed a juvenile Sharp-shin with "streaking on underparts extends onto belly." The Cooper's photo on page 37 showed "fine dark streaking ... sparse on the belly."
No question: it's a Sharp-shinned Hawk.
I wonder how many birds that Sharp-shinned Hawk needs to eat on a snowy winter day...
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