A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion Hobbies, Crafts and Creativity The Bird Lovers Forum 12/23/08 My crows seem to have a problem

I was looking for my Red-bellied Woodpecker in the oak tree out my kitchen door when I noticed a couple of crows flying in on a mission. Then I spotted what they were after.


I believe this is a Broad-winged hawk. Audobon's describes it as "barred with rusty color below, with broad black-and-white tail bands. "

Your Hawk is a Cooper's Hawk, that often stakes out bird feeders in hopes of catching a bird dinner. Cooper's prey on birds. They are commonly called, "Chicken Hawks" because they often catch chicken. Hawks and Owls are traditional enemies of Crows and are in CONSTANT conflict with them.

I have a Cooper's Hawk that checks out my feeders occasionally, but has NEVER caught anything. I see him from time to time.

That's what I thought it might be at first, but Cooper's hawks have long tails with much wider white bands and with tips that are rounded. The tail on my hawk seems too wide and short, however, it seems the Broad-wing is also described as having broader white bands than this. Also, Cooper's are an even grey on top with a black cap on their heads. This bad boy seemed to be more brown on top with dapplings of lighter color at the feather tips. ??????

Wow, hawks are tough to identify!!

Hawks, Shorebirds, Sparrows, and Empidonax Flycatchers are the birder's nightmares. Your hawk COULD also be a Sharp-Shinned Hawk. They are almost IDENTICAL to the Cooper's, in physical appearance, habit preferences, and behavioral patterns.

They resemble the Owl too except for the head..

Iowa is hawkeye state??????/Is that their bird/

I looked at the Sharp-Shinned also, but from what I saw, the tail seemed too short and wide on my hawk. And the white bands were too narrow.

Your right about it being a nightmare. I looked at a bunch of pics of Coopers Hawks and NONE of them looked exactly the same. Ditto with the Broad-winged.