My Sharp Shinned Hawk

Recently, I looked out my living room window and to my surprise and delight there was a little hawk perched in the tree right outside the window. I ran for my camera and first shot through the window so i could have something with which to better identify it later after it flew. Then I sneaked out the front door and got a few more shots.

I went to my bird identification books and puzzled over the ID, studying each of the hawks and their relative sizes. I narrowed my choice down to the Sharp Shinned Hawk, a juvenile. To verify and have a more positive ID, I posted a photo on my website and posted to Texbirds. Texbirds is really great. I got lots of posts and emails with so much help in nailing an identification. I also learned a lot about another very similar hawk - the Cooper's hawk.

From the information I've been given and based upon the size (which since it shows up so close to the house and to me even when I sneak out), I'm pretty sure I have a juvenile Sharp shinned. This is a very small hawk. Its tail seems to be squared. The streaks on its breast are wide and broad with some barring. And even the white tip on the tail is narrow and appears notched like the sharp shin description in my Peterson Field Guide. Since the RGV Birding Festival, I've been using the Sibley guide, but one of my responders mentioned that I should go back to Petersen's. I don't think I could have made the initial ID from Petersens guide, but the details to look for made this identification easier.

But now the fun begins. As we were packing up for our Amarillo trip, I glanced out the window again. There was my "sharpie" on the ground under the rosebushes. This was the second time I'd seen him under the rose bushes, although the first time he was under a different bush. I thought then that perhaps he was trying to get to a suet packet that had fallen down there. But this time, I watched him almost fly through the densely branched (and thorned) bush chasing a little bird. He then moved over to a more open area under some other bushes and waited, biding his time hoping for dinner. I did not have time to watch all of the drama, but in my viewing he never caught his dinner. But I learned some things about his behavior . . . I was expecting him to swoop down from the tree to get his prey, not run them down or try to scramble through the dense rose bushes. Why doesn't he get scratched? Will he still be there when we get back home?

Another interesting side note to this story: When I went to stock up on the seed cylinders that help keep my bird feeding consistent even when we are gone, I mentioned that I had attracted some hawks. The first thing the owner said was that I should scare them off. I mentioned that on Texbirds and the feedback was mixed. Yes, this bird is a hawk. Yes, he will eat some of the little birds I am attracting. Yes, I love my chickadees, white crowned sparrows, Harris sparrows, orange crowned warblers, ruby crowned kinglets . . . . But . . . . I like hawks too. At the moment, I think it is pretty cool that my feeding over the last few years has attracted enough little birds that my property is now attractive to the raptors as well. And my property has always had water birds because of the pond. At the moment we like having the full spectrum of an ecosystem. I guess we'll have to wait and watch what happens. And I have noticed that I don't have quite as many little birds in the mornings, they're a little skittish.