Sharpshinned Hawk

You all know I’m a birdwatcher and I particularly love visits from my neighborhood raptors. Today I had the privilege to observe a male (I think) Sharpshinned Hawk devour a robin that it caught in the yard. I think this is the same hawk that we got pix of a few months ago when he was a juvenile. Hawks are very difficult to identify because they look completely different from juvenile to adult and several species look very similar, such as the Sharpshinned and the Cooper’s hawks. The sexes look the same but the females are typically bigger than the males. In the Sharpie’s case, the females are about twice the size of the males, which is why I believe this one is a male. It wasn’t much bigger than a crow.

Sharpshinned Hawk
Sharpshinned Hawk

He is eating a Robin. These shots were all taken at full zoom (40x), which shows how awesome this Canon really is.

Want birds in your yard?

Turn on a sprinkler when it’s hot and dry like this. I’ve got baby cardinals, a baby thrasher, grown up cardinals and finches taking turns getting their baths on. They are so cute when they poof up their feathers. :-) A mourning dove just came over to see what all the excitement is about. Damn, I’ve got me a regular Birdie Bath House!

Having full feeders also helps… the Brown Headed nuthatches barely let me get the refilled feeder hung before they were all over it squeaking away. I swear they sit in the trees waiting for me to fill them up. Sometimes the mourning doves or cardinals will sit on the top of the empty feeder and give me the stink eye. Heh. Birds are pretty smart, if you ask me.