Sharp-shinned Hawk Photos

Photography by Terry Sohl

My Favorite:  Our little winter yard assassins! In our part of South Dakota, winter is the only time you tend to see Sharp-shinned Hawks, and the vast majority of the sightings I've had have been right in my own backyard around our feeders, or around other feeder complexes. They know where their prey is, and they certainly take advantage of the concentration of small birds at feeders! Most of the time a sighting occurs when one flies around the corner of the house and surprises the birds at the feeder. Fortunately I've had a few opportunities too where one sits in a tree or on our fence in the backyard.

My favorite photo of the species is the one below, from January, 2013 in our backyard. I admit the reason it's my favorite is that it is posing in such a manner that it's very clearly a Sharp-shinned Hawk! Sharp-shinned Hawks and Cooper's Hawks can be difficult to differentiate, but one tell-tale sign of a Sharp-shinned Hawk is the squarish tail, where the outer tail feathers are almost the same length as the central tail feathers. Couldn't have asked for a better pose from this guy to demonstrate it!

Click here for the species description page for the Sharp-shinned Hawk

All photos copyrighted!  Click for information on commerical usage, or usage for other personal purposes.

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Please mail any comments/suggestions/additional links for this page to: Terry L. Sohl