Raptor Identification Part One

I thought about doing a raptor ID post after reading Mary's post about her local raptor rehab center. And what kind of educator would I be if I couldn't give folks a little help identifying raptors?
I thought I would start with the three birds of prey you are most likely to find; Cooper's Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, and Red-shouldered Hawk. And it was a good day to do this, because I saw quite a few. Some of these are from today, and others are from recent jaunts.

Adult Cooper's Hawk. (Accipiter cooperii)
Accipiters: Short wings, long tails. This is a woodland bird, and the combination of short wings and long tails helps them maneuver through dense trees. These guys eat birds mostly, so being fast is an asset. Remember the rules of anatomy and physiology: Form equals function.


The first thing I notice about Coops is the dark cap and flat head. Coops are about 15 inches or so in length, with the females being almost 25% larger than the males (this is true with most birds of prey). To use a common object to compare, since it's hard sometimes to gauge size out in the field: Coops are about the length of a loaf of bread.
Lookalikes: Sharp-shinned Hawks: Much smaller, about blue jay-sized. They have very similar coloring, with subtle differences in the tail shape at the end. In flight, a Coop will have a prominent head, a sharp-shinned will look like it doesn't have a neck.

Adult Coops are a beautiful blue-gray on their backs, and have orange horizontal streaking on their chests (juveniles have brown vertical streaking)
Adults have bright red eyes (juveniles have yellow eyes).



(This is a DOA Coop I picked up in downtown Cincinnati)

Here's a juvenile Coop...note the yellow eyes and vertical streaking on the chest.

Adult red-tailed hawk. (Buteo jamaicensis)

Buteos: Long wings, short tails.
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interesting tidbit: Buteo hawks are referred to as buzzards in other parts of the world. The name was mistakenly applied to vultures in North America by the early settlers.
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Their prey is mostly small mammals, and they are a "wait and bate" hunter. They will sit high on a perch and scan the ground below them and then pounce down on the prey.
It's hard to mistake an adult (3 years or more) red-tailed hawk. The tail is very obvious while perched or in flight (in the sun, you can see the red through the tail).
They are about 18-26 inches long (think about two pieces of paper put together lengthwise.) Dark brown backs and cream to white chests (but there are many subspecies out there, depending on what part of the country you are in).
A belly band of brown streaking is diagnostic, but there are variations. As you can see in the photo below, this female has no belly band.



Helen
She was a fairly dark red-tailed. But you can see her belly band.

Adults have a full red tail with a dark band at the end (juveniles: A red-tailed hawk gets its red tail after the molt in the year after they hatch)
Confused?
First year: brown tail with dark bars across.
Second year: brown tail with some red tail feathers.
Third year: red tail.

These are our program red-tailed hawks.
This is a good picture, to show size differences between males and females:
Scarlet (female) is on the left, Two Socks (male) is on the right.
I can always tell them apart. Scarlet just looks like a bad ass.

And sometimes, nature throws us a curve ball. This is Isis, our program leucistic red-tail. She is NOT an albino: She has a dark spot on the back of her head, and she also has the most beautiful blue eyes.
If you see one like this, call someone!

Lookalikes: Red-shouldered hawks. But if you look closely, you will see the differences right away:

Adult red-shouldered hawk. (Buteo lineatus)
Another buteo: Long wings, short tail. This is a hawk who also likes small mammals, but will also eat birds, amphibians, etc. (Wait and bate)
Adults are about 17-24 inches long (roughly the same as red-tailed).
In flight: a pale crescent at the base of the primaries (near the "wrist").
They have a chunky, black and white barred tail and red shoulders (hence the name).
An orangey chest will differentiate them from red-tailed.
They have a more scalloped look to their backs than red-taileds.
Lookalikes: Red-tailed hawks.
Juvenile red-shouldereds look very much like Cooper's Hawks, though they will have a bit of red on the shoulders.

When in doubt: Look at the tail and the chest.
So, is this a red-tailed or red-shouldered?

I hope I didn't confuse anyone. I probably did. I do a lot better vocally, in my programs.
It also helps to have a bird on my arm.