Educate Yourself About the Sharp-shinned Hawk and Other Hawks
Sharp-shinned Hawk
The Sharp-shinned Hawk has a head and neck that is smaller then the Cooper’s, dark back, rusty-barred breast, short rounded wings, and a slightly square, folded, thin tail.
Its length is 10-14 in (25-35cm) Its wingspan is 23in (57cm) Its voice is a high “kik, kik, kik”, like the Cooper’s, but slightly shriller. Their eggs are dull white, with splotches of rich brown around half way down. They have one clutch consisting of 4-5 or (3-8) eggs. The female incubates for about 32-35 days, and the fledging time is around 24-27 days. Both male and female feed their young. The female is slightly bigger than the male and has a dark brown back with a streaky underside.
Hawks are even more impressive to look at up close; they are very handsome birds with sharp piercing eyes, a strong curved beak, and sharp talons that reflect its incredible hunting habits. They are wonderfully adapted to catch small birds with the rounded wings and long tail, gives them the ability to quickly change course as they eagerly pursue its prey. Watch them up above as they migrate in groups over open country during fall and winter time.
They are lured to your lovely bird feeding gardens because of the concentrated amounts of small feeder birds, and birds like doves, sparrows, flickers, starlings, juncos finches, and jays are especially attractive prays to the Sharp-shinned Hawk. Although they cause quite a stir with their presence, they will usually only stay around your feeding stations for a few short days.
Sharp-shinned and Cooper’s hawks are look-alike birds, but the sharp-shinned is a little bit smaller, more the size of a Rock Pigeon. Their tail shape and head size is a great way to tell them apart: the Cooper’s has a larger head and round-tipped tail, while the Sharp-shinned has a smaller head with a more square looking tail
The Sharp-shinned Hawks are known for their habit of “bush-wacking” small birds, by making short, dashing flights over tree tops and bushes to scare any hiding prey from their shelter and snatch them up for a delightful meal.
Most hawks build their nests high up in trees, in wooded areas, and its construction is coarse-looking but very sturdy and well built. Hawks will usually stay away from humans, but if you have a very large property, you will be likely to host some nesting Cooper’s or Sharp-shinned Hawks. There is a falcon that will accept one of your mounted nest boxes, in your lovely bird feeding garden, (if the right size is available). It is called the American kestrel, witch is a beautiful, small, slim falcon that will come and go as it pleases, undisturbed by human presence.
Unfortunately the hawks will sometimes suddenly appear around your feeding stations, trying to catch feeding birds. The startled small birds will scatter, and this will occasionally end in a chase into a nearby window where both predator and prey will be injured or even killed. There are one billion birds killed each year in window collisions in the United States alone.
Always remember to place your hanging bird feeders and bird feeding tables at least 3 feet away from any windows, and try to hang ornaments, and dangling wind shims to detour any unsuspecting birds from misjudging your reflecting window from an open space.
If you notice these impressive birds over and around your lovely bird feeding garden, stop filling your feeding stations for a couple of weeks, to keep the amount of visiting birds from showing up as much, and that will usually take care of the problem.
