which Hawk is this, and lost the link to the bird identification site

[pat lillich]

This hawk has been coming into the yard and eating juncos (it may be responsible for some of the other little piles of feathers we find from time to time, but so far we've only seen it with a junco in its talons) the junco didnt look very big in its grasp.

is it a juvenile sharp-shinned? it seemed bigger than 11" (in comparison to the junco 6") but i'm very bad at judging bird sizes.

some of the posts were lost from the database crash, including the ones that had the really helpful link to a bird identification site - if someone could post it again it would be really appreciated.

thanks for your help,

[pat lillich]

ok - husband says definitely bigger than a sharp-shinned (if a sharp-shinned is roughly jay sized) --- at least crow sized hawk.

[pat lillich]

eventually i'll get this right ---- the hawk is from the San Jose area of California, and the photo was from today (January)

[John Chardine]

Hi Pat- The thin dark streaks on the lower breast are diagnostic of a young Cooper's Hawk. Cooper's are big, particularly the females so your size description fits.

[pat lillich]

thank you John, the was Alan's guess. His iPad app had more helpful pictures than the Smithsonian field guide did.

[Paul Guris]

I agree with John on the ID. Here is a link to this species on BirdFellow, which I think is the site you're looking for:

http://www.birdfellow.com/birds/coop...piter-cooperii