What kind of bird is this?

This looked like it was a hunter so I took a couple of shots through my window. When I got outside it was gone. Any ideas? These are heavy crops

Looks like a Cooper's Hawk to me.

Nice job.

Too grey for a coopers I think .. maybe a prairie falcon??

The face markings do not look right for a falcon. I would think Cooper's too.

It does look very grey for a Coopers, but then, it's California. Birds out there are starting to show some genetic drift from their Eastern cousins. Very nice shots for through the window.

What about a Sharp-Shinned. Look at the skinny legs. He's small too. Just a guess.

I wondered that, but a sharpy is only blue jay size. Going by the oak leaves, this guy is bigger than that. Still my guessing rate accuracy is very low.

nice shot what lens did you use

Nice picture, you must have cleaner windows than mine, I could never get that nice of a picture through a window.

fishhawk wrote in post #5768962
Nice picture, you must have cleaner windows than mine, I could never get that nice of a picture through a window.

I am surprised it came out ok since the window in an old pane glass window and wavy. Sometimes pictures are wavy in the viewfinder.

I looked up the Coopers hawk and I think you are correct. Thanks everyone for the ID

The lens was a 200 F2

That's one sharp lens. Stack a 1.4x behind it and you will have a pretty good birding lens.

Definitely Cooper's. The legs aren't that skinny and the nape is lighter then the crown, giving the hawk a ''crested'' look.