Photo of the Day: Cooper’s Hawk? Help Me ID This Bird

While driving east on Blue Water Road this afternoon, I grabbed a shot of this bird hanging out on the wire looking for dinner. I see him there quite often, but he usually flies away before I can get a good shot.

I *think it might be a Cooper’s Hawk (based on this), but my birder friends can correct me in the comments section at the bottom of this post. Check out a couple more shots below…

UPDATE 9/20/17: Old Mission Peninsula resident Dave Warne emailed me with a note from his birder friend Carol Towar, who identifies the bird as a Red-tailed Hawk. Here’s what she said:

The lack of barring on the chest and the barring down lower that creates a “belly band” are marks of a Red-tail. The photo of the underwings is helpful,too. The dark bar on the leading edge of the inner underwing (from shoulder outward) and the dark crescent shaped bar in the middle of the wing are also marks of the Red-tailed Hawk.

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