On 25 February I tweeted: "Did I mention we caught a hawk yesterday? No? Well we totally caught a sharp-shinned hawk. Picture soon! (Total birds for site: 3.) #netting
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I wanted to text you a photo right away but that would've been veeeerrrrry difficult.
This is the hold we use on all the birds, just scaled appropriately. This size bird is pretty much the max, though! I've had some quail that were chunky enough that approached this size, and of course we get some long birds (scrub-jays, thrashers) that are also pretty close but generally a little more slender.
It's so TINY. :-o When I think "hawk" I usually think, you know, the redshoulders and redtails and broadwings we had at the wildlife center I used to work with. Which were all buteos, big heavy birds. Sharpshinned is more falcon sized!
I think of redtails too! Often they're perched on the telephone poles along my commute, glaring at the margin or soaring. They're so wonderfully common out here that they're my default hawk image (and a favourite as they're one of the very first birds I was able to reliably identify on my own).
I remember back when I was a weed warrior, trying to identify a hawk that flew overhead in such a way that the markings were very clear. I looked it up and couldn't decide between the cooper's or sharp-shinned hawk but settled on sharp-shinned because I thought it was smaller. Now that I have held one I know that other bird must have been a cooper's!
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That is a very lovely bird you have there, tehCatam'dear. The eyes are amazing, and I kinda adore how you can hold the critter with only one hand.
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This is the hold we use on all the birds, just scaled appropriately. This size bird is pretty much the max, though! I've had some quail that were chunky enough that approached this size, and of course we get some long birds (scrub-jays, thrashers) that are also pretty close but generally a little more slender.
Reply
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I remember back when I was a weed warrior, trying to identify a hawk that flew overhead in such a way that the markings were very clear. I looked it up and couldn't decide between the cooper's or sharp-shinned hawk but settled on sharp-shinned because I thought it was smaller.
Now that I have held one I know that other bird must have been a cooper's!
My whole sense of scale has been re-adjusted.
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