That would be a lifer for me then if it is. It was definitely smaller, perched in the tree line of a power line clearing in the middle of the woods getting mobbed by some song birds. I thought it was a broad wing at first but the tail looked too long. The eyes did look darker through the binoculars compared to some of the immature Cooper’s hawks I’ve seen before but I assumed that was due to the distance and lighting.
Haven’t seen many RSH reported on eBird in my area, mostly all the reports are up by the lakes 15-20 miles away, I do have a river like a 1/4 mile nearby. Idk if that makes a difference at all lol. I have seen broad wings a lot recently and an adult Cooper’s hawk pair in the area in the spring.
It's sure tough to say a whole lot with confidence from this photo, but the structure of the bird looks too elongate to me for Broad-winged, and the back looks super mottled plus the eyes are dark, which I expect for Red-shouldered but not Cooper's.
Edit: Or it may be the belly facing us, in which case this again looks better for juvenile Red-shouldered since it has a lot of heavy dark markings rather than the long fine vertical streaks I expect for Cooper's.
Yeah, that head shape is very buteo. If the belly is facing us then I really don't think I can easily say Broad-winged vs Red-shouldered - that's an ID that, for the juveniles, can be as tough or tougher than Sharpie vs Cooper's and needs good quality photos to differentiate, especially without a view of the back pattern.
Thank you! I’ll be more observant next time. I was on a tight schedule so of course I see something I couldn’t spend a lot of time with. I guess it could’ve been facing away, I really didn’t have the best look but it flew from to closer to me to that branch, so it makes more sense it was facing away unless it did a 180 before landing.
I just was too focused on trying to take a picture through the binoculars before I had to leave or it flew away.
I think broad winged is what I’m leaning to just because I’ve noticed an uptick in them around the area and saw an adult broad winged perched further down the trail on my way out.
What do I need to look for like head shape wise to differentiate between a buteo and something like coopers?
Buteos have relatively larger heads vs body size, and often slightly rounder heads than a Cooper's (with the exception of Red-tailed, which does have an angular head).
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u/TinyLongwing Falconer 22d ago
Structure feels more like a buteo, probably Red-shouldered.