Juvenile Sharpie

This young Sharp Shinned Hawk landed on top of a van at our cottage. It was nice having a raptor come to us. These were taken standing on the lawn at the cottage.

whoa! the first one especially.

Beautiful shots Scott........pretty bird. They sure keep the birds at my feeders on their toes during the winter while they're here.

Beautiful shot....these birds love to hunt little birds! I hope to see some as the hawks migrate through this area. I watched a juvie last year and it took him over 4 hours to catch a bird. I felt sorry for him as he kept missing his prey. Also felt sorry for the little nuthatch that became lunch. Exellent detail in that first image!

Wow Scott these are great. Love the light in #1 but would be thrilled to have any of them in my collection.

Good shooting and great catch, buddy. If you're now finished with charging up to the cottage every weekend, the greenies are still around.

Nice shots and good luck on your part.

Excellent series!

Nice shots, I wonder if the sharp talons scratch the paintwork

Nice captures Scott..

Great clarity Scott, especially love the first one. Nice lighting too.

brunop wrote in post #8577334
whoa! the first one especially.

Thanks Bruno & welcome to POTN.

Shar824 wrote in post #8577339
Beautiful shots Scott........pretty bird. They sure keep the birds at my feeders on their toes during the winter while they're here.

Thanks Sharon. It's amazing to watch how fast the little ones scatter when a hawk drops by the feeders.

ajosteve wrote in post #8578108
Beautiful shot....these birds love to hunt little birds! I hope to see some as the hawks migrate through this area. I watched a juvie last year and it took him over 4 hours to catch a bird. I felt sorry for him as he kept missing his prey. Also felt sorry for the little nuthatch that became lunch. Exellent detail in that first image!

thanks Steve & I know exactly the feeling you describe.

Nighthound wrote in post #8578134
Wow Scott these are great. Love the light in #1 but would be thrilled to have any of them in my collection.

Harvey_G wrote in post #8578144
Good shooting and great catch, buddy. If you're now finished with charging up to the cottage every weekend, the greenies are still around.

sf1 wrote in post #8578294
Nice shots and good luck on your part.

Cyclop wrote in post #8578593
Excellent series!

artyman wrote in post #8578634
Nice shots, I wonder if the sharp talons scratch the paintwork

Stormin_24 wrote in post #8578703
Nice captures Scott..

davebreal wrote in post #8578895
Great clarity Scott, especially love the first one. Nice lighting too.

Thanks for all the encouragement above. I'm trying to reply to the comments from my iPhone and it didn't work out well!

Harv I'll let you take me to the secret greenie pond any time after Labour Day

Great captures. It sure is nice when the bird gods make an offering to us.

Great shots, but while I hate to disagree, I think this is a Juvie Coopers Hawk. I have done some really extensive research into this, and have seen both a Coopers and a Sharpie, which were unmistakably Cooper and Sharpie.

If you google Coopers hawks and then go to Images, about 90% of the shots listed will show a Coopers with the belly spots or teardrops in a vertical orientation.

Search for Sharp Shinned and go to images and about 90% of the birds shown will have a horizontal orientation on the belly spots. Among other differences, like a sleaker body shape, they perch leaning forward, not upright, and they have legs so skinny they have to tie knots in their socks to make knees.

I attribute the other 10% as just wrong and posted by people who really can't tell the difference.