Birding Sweetwater Wetlands - Part VI

Raptors are often present at Sweetwater Wetlands, including Peregrine Falcon, Harris Hawk, Red Tailed Hawk, and the Occasional Swainson's Hawk. The most prevalent though are the Cooper's Hawks that nest there. Here we have a juvenile Cooper's Hawk, followed by an Adult Sharp Shinned Hawk in the same cottonwood tree.

Juvenile Cooper's Hawk near nest

Sharp Shinned Hawk that seemed to be harassing the Cooper's Hawk

 Often present, and sometimes seen are Green Herons (though neither are great photos). Here are a couple of them:

Green Heron

Green Heron

 Still hanging around for the winter are the White Crowned Sparrows. First a juvenile (1st winter) and then an adult:

1st Winter White Crowned Sparrow

Adult White Crowned Sparrow

Sweetwater Wetlands: Hawks Rule the Day

Cooper's and Sharped Shinned Hawks were abundant at Sweetwater Wetlands when I went the other day. Not uncommon I did find a very willing Green Heron to photograph but with so many bird eating hawks it was challenging to find many song birds. Here are a few photos though:

Adult Cooper's Hawk

Green Heron

Adult Sharp Shinned Hawk

Tanque Verde Wash: Raptors

Here are a few of the Raptor photos from our hike in Tanque Verde Wash:

Juvenile Gray Hawk

Adult Cooper's Hawk

Juvenile Sharp Shinned Hawk

Randolph Park Birding

Yesterday I headed down to Randolph Park to see if I could find the reported Northern Waterthrush. As is often the case, the reported "rare" bird wasn't found, but there were other interesting birds to see and photograph:

Green Heron

Black Crowned Night Heron

Sharp Shinned Hawk

Wilson's Warbler

1st Year Wilson's Warbler

MacGillivray's Warbler

Drab Bell's Vireo

Tanque Verde Wash -- Again

Tanque Verde Wash which is about 5 miles from us here in Tucson, is usually a productive birding spot. Of course, that doesn't necessarily it usually is a productive photo spot. Birding photography requires the willingness of the birds to be photographed. Nonetheless, as a photographer you put yourself in the place with the most potential and hope you get a bit lucky. 

As Christine and I walked through Tanque Verde Wash the other day, we saw -- and heard lots of birds. But I really only came home with two photos. We came across a pair of Sharp Shinned Hawks that were parenting two young ones just out of their nest. The first photo is one of the adults.

The second photo has wonderful art-like color -- like a sketch -- although the White Crowned Sparrow is a tad out of focus.

Sharp Shinned Hawk

White Crown Sparrow

Birding Tanque Verde Wash

Well, I have some catching up to do. I visited several of the local birding spots: Tanque Verde Wash, Fort Lowell Park, Sweetwater Wetlands, and Christopher Columbus Park.  Then, yesterday drove to   Organ Pipe National Monument.

So, starting with Tanque Verde wash -- and in no particular order:

Male Lesser Goldfinch

Vermillion Flycatcher

 There was a large flock, 50 or more Cedar Waxwings flying among the very tops of the Cottonwood Trees. There are about 10 in this photo:

Cedar Waxwing

This Sharp Shinned Hawk let me taken a large number of photos. Then I left him right where he was sitting. (After saying "Thank You.")

Sharp Shinned Hawk

Huttons Vireo

Sharp Shinned Hawk - II

The second "5" Star Sharp Shinned Hawk photo was taken just outside my office window. I watched as this SSH swooped down, grabbed a Mourning Dove, slammed the dove into the window by my desk breaking its neck, then taking the dove to the Mesquite Tree by my office. There he sat plucking feathers for over 30 minutes, after which he enjoy his dinner.

Sharp Shinned Hawk

Sharp Shinned Hawk

Continuing with my "5" Star Photo series we get to the Sharp Shinned Hawk. The SSH is very similar to the Coopers Hawk, but slightly smaller. This makes positive identification sometimes difficult, especially with full size Sharp Shinned and younger Coopers.

This Sharp Shinned photo was taken at Whitewater Draw in Southern Arizona where 30 to 40,000 Sandhill Cranes winter. The area 'draws' lots of birds which means both Sharp Shinned and Coopers will be around.

Sharp Shinned Hawk

Sharp Shinned Hawk

Every once in a while you get lucky. A bird or animal will stay still and allow you to get close for a photograph. Yesterday, our guests were sitting outside by the pool when a Sharp Shinned Hawk fly down and sat on one of our walls. Evidently he was there for quite a lot time. I happened by, saw him, then went back to get my camera. I took several photos from different angles. Then I went inside to start making breakfast. He was still there, perched on the wall. Here's the photo I like best. It's my new desktop photo.

Sharp Shinned Hawk

Plumage Changes - III

Cooper's Hawks and Sharp Shinned Hawks are very similar in their plumage. Adult Cooper's are about six inches taller than adult Sharp Shinned and nearly three times the weight. Both range throughout the US, (although many Sharp Shinned migrate from Alaska and Northern Canada to the lower US in the winter). Both can be seen here at The Azure Gate year round. And finally both go through very similar plumage changes as they grow from juvenile to adult. In both cases the juvenile has vertical dark streaks which turn orange and horizontal as they mature. In both cases the wings and back are dark brown as juveniles, but turn blue gray as an adult. 

Juvenile Cooper's Hawk

Adult Cooper's Hawk

Juvenile Sharp Shinned Hawk

Adult Sharp Shinned Hawk

Predators with Their Prey: Raptors

Raptors don't have an easy time of it either. However, they succeed often enough to survive.

Bald Eagle with 30 pound Salmon

The rare Gray Hawk with a bird of some kind

Osprey with 24 inch Rainbow Trout

Sharp Shinned Hawk with Mourning Dove

Yes, and a Turkey Vulture with a Coyote

Sharp Shinned Hawk

I am still trying to get back to normal here, but a quick post. It was three days ago this Sharp Shinned Hawk swooped down into our "oasis" and caught a Mourning Dove and flew up into a nearby mesquite tree.  He let me get close enough for the following photo:

Sharp Shinned Hawk

Daily Visitor

I took a walk around our property today, camera in hand looking for something to photograph. I could not find even a dove or quail.I wondered what was going on? So I came back to my office and sat outside in my "rocking chair," and watched the lack of birds even on the feeders. After a couple of minutes a Sharp Shinned Hawk flew into the Mesquite Tree by the office about 20 feet from me. There I was holding my camera. Wow! I really didn't have to move an inch to get this photo:

Sharp Shinned Hawk

Sharp Shinned in the Aleppo Pine

This morning as I went out to get the newspaper I startled a pair of juvenile Sharp Shinned Hawks in one of our large Aleppo Pine trees.  It is breeding season, so I assume that one was a male and one was a female. (No way of knowing for sure). So, the first photo is one of the pair. The second photo is the other.

Here is a front view photo of the second, which helped me identify them:

Cooper's and Sharp Shinned Hawks have very similar plumage. While the Cooper's is five inches larger, size is not always easy as a distinguishing feature. Interestingly, the male of both species is smaller than the female. Therefore, a male Coopers may not be much larger than a female Sharp Shinned. I believe this to be a Sharp Shinned because the streaks on the breast are coarser and more rufous in color. The head seems a little smaller, no neck, and the bill seems shorter. Since distinguishing between the Sharp Shinned and the Coopers is difficult at best I always try to be sure I have identified them correctly. In preparing for the blog, I found a wonderful website from Cornell University (The Cornell Lab of Ornithology). I have copied their methodology for identifying one versus the other:

• With all plumages, Cooper's Hawks are barrel shaped, with the width of the chest fairly close in size to the width of the hips and the largest portion of the chest about halfway down the body. Sharp-shinned Hawks, on the other hand, are widest at the shoulder and get distinctly narrower down to the hips.
  
• The size of the head relative to the body can be a reliable field mark. It isn't always easy to see, and hawks hold their heads in different positions that can affect how big the head looks, but usually a Sharp-shinned Hawk's head looks small, and a Cooper's Hawk's head looks large. Sharp-shinned Hawks appear short-necked; Cooper's Hawks appear tall.
  
• Cooper's Hawks are larger than Sharp-shinned Hawks, but size can be difficult to judge if you see the bird in isolation, and there is wide variability in size from one individual to the next and between larger females and smaller males in both species. Furthermore, large female Sharp-shinned Hawks can be nearly as large as small male Cooper's Hawks. Generally, however, size can be a reliable field mark, especially if the bird is very large or very small.
  
• If you can see the front of the hawk and it is a juvenile hawk, the thickness and color of vertical streaks is fairly reliable. As can be seen on the bottom of the Accipiter Photo Gallery page, there is some overlap between the species, but this is pretty unusual. Very thick, rufous stripes that extend down the lower belly are a good indication of Sharp-shinned Hawk, and very thin, dark streaks that fade away on the lower belly are a good indication of Cooper's Hawk.
  
• Differences in leg size can be helpful for distinguishing between the hawks. Very thin legs are diagnostic for Sharp-shinned, and very thick legs are diagnostic for Cooper's Hawk. This field mark requires some judgment, though, and sometimes it is hard to tell if the legs are thick or thin.
  
• If you can see the back of the hawk, and it is an adult, then the color of the nape is a reliable field mark. Cooper's Hawks have a pale nape with a clear contrast to a dark cap. Juveniles of both species can show a pale nape, however.
  
• The rounded versus square tail is reliable if you can see all the tail feathers and they are held straight. The tail feathers of Sharp-shinned Hawks are the same length, whereas the outer tail feathers are shorter than the inner feathers on Cooper's Hawks. However, when seen from the back, if a Cooper's Hawk holds its tail tightly closed, the longer feathers can completely block the shorter feathers from view, making the tail look square. Furthermore, a Sharp-shinned Hawk's tail can look rounded if the feathers are spread. New feathers growing in can further complicate the issue.

You can get more information from Cornell at their website: 

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw/AboutBirdsandFeeding/accipiterIDtable.htm

Raptors: Part IX

Starting the hawks, we begin with the Cooper's and Sharp Shinned Hawks. Distinguishing between these two Accipters is a challenge. Even as I show them to you, I have to pull out the identification books to make sure I have them right. And, even then it is hard to tell from the photos themselves. The only reason I know, is because I saw them and one was much larger than the other. Both are long tailed and short winged so they can fly through trees and dense forests to capture small birds in flight. We have both species here year round. Whenever I look outside and don't see a goldfinch, sparrow, quail, or dove, I suspect one of these two is or has been around. To put their size in perspective, the Condor weighs about 23 pounds, a Bald Eagle 10 pounds, a Red Tail Hawk 3 pounds, the Cooper's Hawk 1 pound, and the Sharp Shinned Hawk about 5 ounces. Both photos were taken here at The Azure Gate.

Cooper's Hawk

Sharp Shinned Hawk

Ramsey Canyon, Another Trip with Pierr

The Painted Redstart (first photo) is a regular at Ramsey Canyon. Fairly reliable to find and photograph. I took many photos of him zooming around the tree trunks pecking away looking for bugs. But this photo I chose because it was a "close-up" and you can see just how beautiful they are. The female Blue Throat Hummingbird can only be found in the United States in the lower end of the Huachuca Mountains. It has a very small range into Mexico as well. We were hiking and she zipped right by me and up into this tree where she started cleaning herself. Almost immediately into our hike a sharp shinned hawk few across the trail from one side to the other. On the way back we found its nest. The fourth photo was a red skimmer (dragonfly). There were many in the various pools only the canyon's creek. Then the last photo is a vinca, a wildflower often found in the gardens of Arizona.