![\"Photo](\"http:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/CoopersHawkTailOnNaturalCrooksDotCom.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nWas This a Cooper\u2019s Hawk or a Sharp Shinned Hawk<\/h2>\n
Just like it can be hard to tell Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers apart<\/strong><\/a>, it can be difficult to tell Cooper\u2019s and Sharp Shinneds. I\u2019m lucky this bird gave me a good look and even posed where I could clearly see it.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s why I\u2019m pretty sure this was a juvenile Cooper\u2019s Hawk not a Sharp Shinned:<\/p>\n Cooper\u2019s Hawks eat mostly medium-sized birds. That includes Mourning Doves and Pigeons which is why they sometimes choose to hunt near bird feeders. They will eat squirrels and chipmunks as well.<\/p>\n Sharp Shinned will also check out the hunting near feeders. They prefer small birds, though, like sparrows. They also eat mice and sometimes grasshoppers.<\/p>\n If all of the birds near your feeder suddenly \u201cdisappear\u201d \u2013 freezing and keeping quiet\u2014they may\u00a0 have noticed the shadow of a Cooper\u2019s or Sharp Shinned\u2019s passage.<\/p>\n When they are not living in tree-filled suburban parks, both types of hawk prefer forested areas. They are built to fly between trees and among branches at high speeds.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve seen both Cooper\u2019s and Sharp Shinned in and around my yard but I\u2019ve never had as long or as good a view as I had of this juvenile bird at the Rattray. I hope to meet it again!<\/p>\n Related Reading<\/strong><\/p>\n Join In<\/strong> This impressive juvenile hawk strafed me then posed for a few photos. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[25,314,41,313],"class_list":["post-3032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-focus","tag-birds","tag-coopers-hawk","tag-hawks","tag-sharp-shinned"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3032"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3032\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8374,"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3032\/revisions\/8374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
<\/a><\/p>\n\n
Why You Might See a Cooper\u2019s (or Sharp Shinned) at your Bird Feeder<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n\n
\nHas one of these hawks visited your yard or brightened up your visit to a park? Please share your experience with a comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"