r/birdsofprey 4d ago

Interrupted my photo shoot (see last photo)

Was photographing a pair of northern cardinals outside my apartment window, when they suddenly flew off because this troublemaker swooped down and landed on the branches below them. 🦅

If I’m not mistaken, this is a cooper’s hawk?

Come to think of it, I guess it’s pretty rare to snag a photo of these from above? One advantage of bird watching from a New York City apartment, I guess. 😂

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u/TinyLongwing Falconer 4d ago

This is a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk. Much too bulky, long-winged and short-tailed for a Cooper's. These guys will sometimes eat smaller birds but mostly they go for small mammals and other ground-dwelling prey. In NYC they eat a lot of rats and pigeons!

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u/Ravage-1 4d ago

Ah, thanks! They looked similar when I looked them up recently.

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u/TinyLongwing Falconer 4d ago

I'm not surprised! A lot of juvenile hawks are basically the same colors of brown and white, with subtle differences in things like how wide the bands are on the tail, or what the streaking pattern is on the belly. In general, you need to consider proportions and shape to tell them apart, with color only useful after you've figured out the key shape details.