Identification Dilemma: Cooper’s or Sharp-shinned?

Sharp-shinned Hawk

Birders deal with identification dilemmas throughout the year. Autumn brings confusing fall-plumaged warblers, and shorebirds sporting their pale, sometimes nondescript basic plumage, are also passing through during migration. What about the confusing accipiters? How often have you seen a hawk flying overhead or checking out the potential prey at your bird feeder, and wondered, “Is it a Sharp-shinned, or is it a Cooper’s?”  Sharp-shinned Hawks (SSHA) and Cooper’s Hawks (COHA) are very similar causing a great deal of angst amongst birders. Thus, we have the confusing accipiter dilemma. Here are some helpful hints to assist you in making a determination when you are presented with this ID predicament. 

The Sharp-shinned Hawk is our smallest hawk and the smallest of the three North American accipiters. The Northern Goshawk, the largest, is rarely seen here, and will not, in any case, be at your feeder. It is a bird of northern forests that might only be reported on rare occasions during migration.  

Back to the Sharpie and the Cooper’s. Size is not always a reliable indicator for identification. In general, female raptors are larger than males, and Cooper’s Hawks are technically larger than Sharpies. However, there is much variation within each species, and a female Sharpie can be almost the same size as a male Cooper’s. If you see a bird the size of a Blue Jay, though, and other ID indicators are in agreement, you can be pretty sure the bird is a small male SSHA. 

Generally, COHAs appear to have a rounded tail. That is because the outer rectrices, or tail flight feathers, are shorter than the feathers in the rest of the tail; the tail feathers graduate in length from the outer to the middle of the tail. The white tip of a Cooper’s tail is wider than the Sharp-shinned’s. The Sharpie’s tail may appear to be shorter and squared-off with a thinner white tip. 

The Cooper’s has more substantial looking legs, where the Sharp-shinned’s legs appear thinner, some would even say spindly.

The head of a Cooper’s Hawk seems larger in comparison to body size, and may often appear to be squarish when its’ hackles are raised. The crown feathers are dark, and the feathers on the nape are paler in color. The head of a SSHA appears rounded and small in comparison to its body size. The crown and nape are dark. 

Look at the head of the Cooper’s as it glides overhead.  The head extends beyond the leading edge of the wing prompting the comparison to a “flying cross”.  When viewing the Sharpie, the head is closer to the leading edge of the wing making the bird resemble a “flying mallet”.

In flight, the wing beats vary as well. A Sharp-shinned Hawk will quickly beat it wings a few times, then glide. The Cooper’s Hawk will beat its wings several times also, but more slowly, then glide.

Immature Cooper’s Hawk