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Like their close relatives the Cooper's hawk and northern goshawk, sharp-shinned hawks are fast-flying woodland ambush hunters. Sharp-shins (especially males) are the smallest of the three species and specialize on small birds. Adults are blue-gray above and rusty-barred below while first-year birds are brownish with heavy ventral streaking. In many cases it's very hard to distinguish female sharpies from male 'Coops', as the markings and size are very similar. These sharpshins were photograped at Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge, New Mexico; near the Glenn Highway in south-central Alaska; in Riverside, California, in Monterey, and on the Big Sur coast. None of them was very confiding and few were in good light, so some of these photos are far from ideal in quality. |
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