Chirps and Cheeps

There's been an accipiter terrorizing the songbirds at my feeders for 4 days now.  I finally had a chance to get a much better look at him or her today and I'm pretty confident the predator is a Sharp-shinned Hawk; the alternative being a Cooper's.

The reason I think Sharp-shinned is because the shape of the head appears a little more rounded and Cooper's have more square-shaped heads.  Of course, females are typically larger, so a female Sharp-shinned could be the size of a male Cooper's. The nape (back of the neck) appears dark on this bird, giving it a hooded appearance as opposed to the capped appearance of a Cooper's Hawk.  I didn't get a chance to study the tail feathers nor the legs (heavier or thinner). I've yet to claim a Sharp-shinned and I'm going to hold off on it as I'm expert and I'm not 100% sure...

Today, the raptor swooped through the back feeders while I was working. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a rush of motion and quickly grabbed my camera. My suspicions were correct; the hunter was back.

Finally, the very last window I searched from, showed the hawk in a nearby spruce.  His attack was apparently unsuccessful (I'm sure to the immense delight of the American Tree Sparrows, Dark-eyed Juncos, American Goldfinches, Common Redpolls, and Pine Siskins that were dining there just a few minutes earlier!).  I was able to quickly grab a few decent photos of him, albeit handheld and through a window with some glare.  I think he saw me, he seemed to look right at me - and, therefore, didn't stay long.  Besides, he was still hungry: off he gracefully flew, seeking lunch at someone else's feeders!

Both Sharp-shinned and Cooper's Hawks usually hunt small birds - and while the Cooper's Hawks are agile flyers through thick vegetation, a recent study found that 23% of those birds had healed chest bone fractures (aka the wish bone or furcula). Who knew?!