A Kitchenhawk in the plum tree...

...a Kitchenhawk is an accipiter that sits outside my kitchen window. His size is a bit iffy---he's about halfway between the size of an Obvious Sharp-shinned Hawk and an Obvious Cooper's Hawk. A week or so a go, an Obvious Sharp-shinned Hawk (juvenile) landed outside my kitchen window. He was small--really no larger than a Blue Jay. A few days later, the same munchkin landed on the deck, followed about an hour later by an Obvious Cooper's Hawk (juvenile). She was very large! But for the past couple of days, this in between-sized hawk has been visiting the plum tree and hockey net on the kitchen side of the house. My guess is he is a small, male juvenile Cooper's Hawk, but sometimes he seems small enough to be a Sharp-shinned. I do not know enough about hawks to make a decision. His tail feathers seem rounded and uneven, which points towards a Cooper's but.....any experts out there? I'll have more photos of him over the next couple of days.

When I showed this photo to Rick, he sad it was a shame the tree was in the way, but I sometimes like these peeping-through-the-woods shots. You'd never know this fellow was sitting about 10 feet outside my kitchen window. Although the fuzziness has that shooting-through-a-screen feel.

I would hate to be a tiny mouse or bird and be on the receiving end of that stare!!

...that beautiful orange-buff head makes me lean towards a small male Cooper's Hawk.

...another Peeping Tom shot! I love the intense focus that always shows up in a hawk's eye.