Many people enjoy hawks. Their fierce independence and obviously untamed nature evoke a wildness that we are often lacking in our daily lives, similar to the “fierce green fire” that writer and naturalist Aldo Leopold famously reported seeing in the eyes of a wolf. Compared to wolves, however, hawks are easy to see. Across the Bay Area, we have a dozen or so different species of birds of prey. And in your very own neighborhood, you probably have at least three or four. Today, I’ll be talking about some of these most common neighborhood hawks — the red-tailed, Cooper’s and sharp-shinned hawks — with a closing glance at a few other local raptors.
Red-tailed hawks are the most familiar. They are common, widespread, large and often perch in easily visible locations. If you’d like to become a competent identifier of local hawks, the most practical method is to first become a competent identifier of red-tailed hawks: “Is it a red-tail?” is the best first question to ask when spotting an unidentified raptor.
Their most famous field mark is obviously their brick-red tail, but the usefulness of this feature needs some caveats: young, first-year birds do not have red tails, and even adult tails are not very red if seen in flight from underneath. So look for more clues. Red-tails are big, soaring hawks with a 4-foot wing span. From underneath while in flight, they show a dark “patagial mark” on the front edge of their wings, near the body, which no other hawks share. When perched, look for the contrast between streaking on the belly, a clear “bib” at the top of the chest and then a darker head.
As you might deduce from their large size and hunting style based on perching out in the open, red-tails are not chasing tiny songbirds but instead prey more on mammals and reptiles with poor eyesight. These features of size and lifestyle are general traits of the genus Buteo, of which the red-tailed hawk is an exemplary member: These are broad-winged, short-tailed hawks made for efficient soaring and life out in the open.
Our next most common neighborhood hawks come from a different lineage, that of the short-winged, long-tailed and overall smaller genus Accipiter, represented here by the Cooper’s and sharp-shinned hawks. These two species are notorious lookalikes, with the primary difference being one of size: Cooper’s hawks are bigger (weighting about a pound), while sharp-shinned hawks are smaller (“Mini Coopers,” if you will, about 5 ounces). The plumage of Cooper’s and sharp-shins, however, is roughly the same. Young birds are brown on the back, light on the front, with vertical brown streaking that is not interrupted by that paler “bib” of the red-tailed hawks. Tails are not red at any age, but instead show an alternation of broad dark bands over the underlying brown. Mature adults are blue-gray on the back and reddish in front.
The subtle art of distinguishing Cooper’s and sharp-shinned hawks is beyond the scope of this column, but some broadly shared characteristics of the two local Accipiter hawks can be mentioned here. Unlike the mighty red-tails, these short-winged hawks are ambush hunters that do prey heavily on birds: If you see a hawk chasing little songbirds in your backyard, it is probably one of these two species. Finch and sparrow-sized birds are generally appropriate prey for sharp-shins, while Cooper’s hawks might venture up to the robin-dove-quail weight class of prey, although there can certainly be some overlap. Unlike with red-tails, where the common way to encounter them is to see them perched on a utility pole or soaring overhead, the classic Accipiter experience is of a brief exciting blur as a hawk bursts from the trees, scatters the smaller birds, then vanishes shortly afterwards.
These three species probably comprise 80% of the hawks seen in backyards, although there are others. Red-shouldered hawks are not uncommon, elegant birds of crisp black and white. Yards bordering open fields might spot kestrels, white-tailed kites or even golden eagles. Residents of the coast or bay shore might spot peregrine falcons or bald eagles.
But if you would like to become familiar with the hawks of our region, this is the place to start, with the raptors of our yards and neighborhoods: the red-tailed, Cooper’s and sharp-shinned hawks. You don’t need to go far to find the fierce and untamed.
Jack Gedney’s On the Wing runs every other Monday. He is a co-owner of Wild Birds Unlimited in Novato and author of “The Birds in the Oaks: Secret Voices of the Western Woods.” You can reach him at jack@natureinnovato.com.
