A nice surprise this morning was a sharp-shinned hawk sitting atop the bird feeders. Moments before, the feeders were bustling with common redpolls, pine siskins, chickadees and goldfinches.
The Sharp-shinned is our smallest accipiter (long-tailed hawk with short, rounded wings). The typical flight is several short quick beats and a sail. The Sharpie is the most common accipiter in the East, the other two being the Cooper's and Northern Goshawk. The sharpie and the cooper's hawks can be difficult to distinguish, but the sharpie has a smaller head and square, notched tail which is easily seen in the photo.
I was just about to go out the front door with the dogs for our morning run, so Gerry snapped this action picture just as the Sharpie took off.
He makes his presence known. Nice photo of the Sharpie. I often have long moments at my feeder when nothing stirs. I suspect there'a hawk somewhere in the surrounding trees but haven't found one yet.
ReplyDeleteVery cool, JoAnne!!!
ReplyDeleteWhat the heck?? That was me, KT, on the last post!
ReplyDelete