Answer to Mystery Bird Quiz # 6

Like I was hoping, this Mystery Bird Quiz stumped some people. Over 150 people viewed the quiz, but I only got responses from about 20 people. All twenty people guessed one of the following 3 species: Sharp-shinned Hawk, Cooper's Hawk, or Red-shouldered Hawk. In the post, I had mentioned that the bird in question was in fact an Accipiter, so that should have narrowed the quesses down to Sharp-shinned, Cooper's, or Goshawk. Red-shouldered Hawk is a Buteo and so should not have been guessed, but since it was the number one guess, I will address why it is not a Red-shoulder. Red-shouldered Hawks are commonly refered to as the Buteo that looks and acts like an Accipiter, so I am not totally suprised this was guessed.

Here are the two photos I had given, just to refresh your memory.

Photo 1

Photo 2

In these photos the bird is shown in two different flight postures. The first photo shows the bird banking to the left as it soared above me. The second photo shows the bird coming off a soar into a gliding posture.

Lets start with why the bird is not a Red-shouldered Hawk. I believe people instantly thought Red-shouldered because of three features that are shown in the first photo. 1- The bird has broad wings, with the appearance of a "pale crescent" before the primary flight (finger) feathers. 2- The bird has a banded tail. 3- The bird has a chunky body like that of a Buteo. Of these three reasons, I believe the second reason is the most important for ruling out Red-shouldered Hawk (RS). In the juvenile plumage of a RS, the tail is very heavily banded with about seven dark bands. In the first mystery bird photo, you can easily see that the tail only has three dark bands. In the adult plumage of a RS, the tail does actually have three dark bands, but they are very thick, showing barely any white between each band, whereas the mystery bird's tail shows even black and white/gray banding. As far as the "pale crescent" in the wings; this is just an effect of how the sun was hitting the primary feathers, and creating an impression of a lighter patch in the wing. Furthermore, the wing shape is not quite right for a Buteo, the secondary feathers are bulging too far out and the wing is not long enough to be an Buteo's. Below are some photos of Red-shouldered Hawks for you to compare to the mystery bird photos.

Juvenile Red-shouldered Hawk; note very heavily banded tail, long narrow wings, and large head. The pale crescents in the wings are very obvious in juveniles, like this one.

Adult Red-shouldered Hawk; note thick banding on tail, long narrow wings, and big head. The pale crescents are less noticeable in the wings of adult Red-shoulders.

This photo of an adult Red-shouldered Hawk's posture is similar to the posture in mystery bird photo 2; however the head is very large, and the wingtips are swept back in typical Red-shoulder fashion.

Next, lets discuss why the bird is not a Cooper's Hawk. Cooper's Hawk and Sharp-shinned Hawks are very similar in all respects, but can easily be differentiated if you take the time to look at multiple field marks, which is obviously easier to do when youre just looking at a photo as is the case here. The field marks that I feel led people to guess Cooper's Hawk were 1- The long wings and 2- The long tail with white tip.
The wings of the mystery bird in photo 1 do appear rather long, but the bulging secondary feathers ruin the shape for the bird to be a Cooper's Hawk by giving the wind a "stouter" appearance. The tail is the other field mark that could have thrown you off in this identification. First lets look at how wide the body is where the tail and the body meet. Cooper's Hawk have a very broad attachment point, just as wide as the rest of the bird's chest. The mystery bird's chest/tail attachment seems to pinch together a bit making the attachment point not as wide as the rest of the chest. The end of the tail is also not nearly as rounded as a Cooper's Hawk tail should be. Compare the photo below of a Cooper's Hawk in a similar posture to mystery bird photo 1.

Adult Cooper's Hawk, soaring and banking left; note long and narrow wings not showing any bulging in the secondaries. Also note the area where the tail attaches to the body, it is as wide as the rest of the bird's chest.

Compare this photo of an adult Cooper's Hawk to mystery bird photo 2. Note the very large head and long tail that is rounded at the tip.

So, as you probably realize by now the mystery bird is a SHARP-SHINNED HAWK. The overall stocky appearance, very small head, and stout wings with bulging secondaries seal the deal. I believe that if you had all seen the bird in the field, the ID would have been much easier since you would have also had the flight style to go on as well as see that the bird was much smaller than any Red-shouldered Hawk could be. I would be happy to discuss more with you about the identication of this bird, just email me or leave a comment on this post. Drew Weber, Tim Schreckengost, and Anna Fasoli answered correctly. All the photos in this post were taken by Alex Lamoreaux.