Hawk Identification Tips from every angle (Sharpie vs Cooper and Red-tailed Subspecies)
I get several questions about the difference between accipiters. The most common ones are between Sharp-shinned Hawks and Cooper's Hawks and between Cooper's Hawks vs Northern Goshawks (to a lesser degree). Next, I get many questions dealing with a certain race of buteos the Western Red-tailed Hawk and Harlan's. So I thought I would do a post on these to help answer those questions. I will deal with Cooper's and Sharpies and not Goshawks because they are much more common here and look much more alike. My friend John Reynolds inspired me to write this up. COOPER'S AND SHARP-SHINNED HAWKS EYE COLOUR - YELLOW OR ORANGE? RED? Normally a juvenile Cooper's hawk has a bright yellow eye and a Juvie Sharpie has a orange eye but some cooper's can have a dull yellow eye that looks a bit orangish. Cooper's Hawks usually only transition to the orange eye colour when they are sub adults, so in good light, it's a very very reliable feature. However you ...
thanks for posting these interesting news articles mel. it must be very sad for you after seeing those attwater's greater prairie chickens in texas to now know they are doomed to extinction within the year. it is disturbing to know how many species or birds and animals will be extinct due to our own doing. regarding the birds dying in the oil sands it is no surprise the oil and gas industry pretends they don't cause any harm to wildlife but hundreds of birds and mammals have died in those tailing ponds. it seems it doesn't matter which party is in federal government power. the federal government has demonstrated two things that they don't care about first nations peoples and they don't care about wildlife and their habitat.
ReplyDeleteIts sad to hear about the attwatter's greater prairie chickens sadly i think they are doomed for extinction with only five birds left in the wild
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