This immature Sharp-shinned Hawk visited the bluffs above Dungeness Bay today. You can tell it's an immature by its plumage and yellow eye; adults have red eyes.
Sharp-shinned Hawk - Photo: Bob Boekelheide
It’s the smallest hawk in Canada and the United States and a daring, acrobatic flier. On average, males are the size of an American Kestrel, slightly larger than a jay. Females are one-third larger than males, approaching the size of a male Cooper’s Hawk. The rounded head, square tail, and plumage also separate it from its bigger cousin, Cooper’s Hawk.
Sharp-shinned Hawks are “pursuit hunters”, often surprising their prey on the wing by bursting out from a hidden perch with a rush of speed. They are versatile: small birds may be taken in the air or on the ground; they may pounce from perches as little as 3 feet above the ground to catch rodents; and they catch some insects on the wing. Sharp-shins make great use of cover and stealth to get close to their prey, surprising it at close range rather than diving from great heights. Rather like a cat’s claws, Sharp-shinned Hawks use their long toes and talons to impale and hold moving prey. They carry their prey to a stump or low branch to pluck it before eating. Swallowing feathers is not normal for them, as it is for owls.
Sharp-shinned Hawk - Photo: Bob Boekelheide
Sharp-shinned Hawks are mostly migrants in Washington, although a few nest in coniferous forests in the Cascades and Olympics. Learn more at Cornell Lab’s All About Birds.