Almost everyone who feeds birds has had this experience. A hawk suddenly flashes through the yard. Birds panic, scattering from the feeder. Perhaps the hawk lingers on a branch, or perhaps it’s gone as fast as it appeared. What was it?
Cooper’s hawk is the most likely answer.
Although they can dine on small mammals, they are designed for snatching birds. They have relatively short wings compared to other hawks, providing acceleration and speed over short distances. Their relatively long tails act as a rudder, letting them maneuver deftly around trees and obstacles. This agility allows them to hunt by ambush, seeming to appear out of nowhere.
Cooper’s hawks are occasional backyard predators, but it was not always so. Maine’s raptor species were devastated by pesticide poisoning before DDT was banned in 1972.
Cooper’s hawks also declined due to widespread shooting, either for sport or from a misplaced concern for chicken safety. Populations have rebounded since the 1970s to about a million birds across North America.
If a hawk flashes through your yard, take a closer look at what it’s chasing. Cooper’s hawks tend to go after larger prey, such as mourning doves and blue jays, and are less of a threat to smaller birds like chickadees and nuthatches. But small birds aren’t entirely safe — they have their own predators. That quick flash through the trees could just as easily be a sharp-shinned hawk, another stealthy ambush hunter.
These raptors are smaller than Cooper’s hawks, but look and act much the same. The two species are tough to tell apart, especially since their sizes nearly overlap. All female hawks tend to be about 20 percent larger than their mates, and a female sharp-shinned hawk is nearly as large as a male Cooper’s hawk.
I have a confession to make. I can easily misidentify one of these raptors, mostly because I chronically forget what I am supposed to look for. Usually, size difference is enough. Except when it’s not.
Next, I look at the tail. The tail on a sharp-shinned hawk is square, while the Cooper’s tail is rounded. Except when it’s not. The tail shape difference is not always obvious on a perched hawk.
Here are some more field marks I always forget. The head of a Cooper’s hawk is larger and flatter, with the hint of a crest. Frankly, I’ve never found that to be very helpful in field observations.
Both hawks have a white-tipped tail, but it’s broader and more pronounced on the Cooper’s hawk. Again, often not helpful. The back of the neck of a sharp-shinned hawk is as dark as the crown of its head. The nape of a Cooper’s hawk is a lighter gray than the dark crest on top. I do find that tip helpful.
Either hawk can haunt a backyard feeder, but the Cooper’s is much more likely in winter. Most of the sharp-shinned hawks fly south. In fact, it’s an abundant migrant over the Cadillac Mountain hawk watch in autumn.
Cooper’s hawks are seen migrating southward much less often, partly because there aren’t any farther north. Maine is about the upper limit of its nesting range. The sharp-shinned hawk range extends into Labrador.
With such a strong resemblance, it’s obvious that Cooper’s and sharp-shinned hawks must be closely related species. Obvious, yet scientifically incorrect.
Both hawks were formerly classified as accipiters, along with American goshawks. Ornithologists decided in 2024 that sharp-shinned hawks were more closely related to several Old World species of sparrowhawk in the accipiter genus.
Cooper’s hawks and goshawks have since been reclassified into the Astur genus, lumped in with a bunch of Old World birds I’ve never heard of.
Fortunately, we don’t really have to worry about all that scientific stuff. We just need to worry about what’s stalking our back yards. Sometimes one of these hawks will stake out a feeder for days. If you find it distressing, the quick fix is to stop feeding for a few days. The hawk will soon move on to greener pastures.
Occasionally, a red-tailed hawk may visit your backyard. Mostly, they just want to perch somewhere where they might see squirrels and chipmunks hanging around a feeder. They will eat birds, but they’re not very good at catching them, and small birds usually aren’t worth the effort.
A barred owl in the backyard isn’t a total shock either. During a lean winter, they’ll prey on the rodents visiting your feeders at night as they glean fallen seeds from the ground. That’s quite a menagerie you’ve got going in your back yard.