I just starting walking down the street and looked up. Sitting on the nearby light pole was this hawk staring down at me. The angle was bad to get a positive ID. It didn’t seem large enough for a Red Tail. It seemed more likely a Cooper. The tail was straight down on the opposite side of the pole. I couldn’t get in position to see it. What do you think it was?
Click any image for more detail.
Our View From Iowa 
I’m still pretty sure it’s a red-tailed hawk. The proportions are there.
I’ve gone back and forth many times and still can’t be sure.
Maybe a juvenile?
Quite possibly.
I don’t have a clue, but Mia McPherson’s website might be of help. You can find her hawk images here. I use her site a lot for waterbird identification. Since she’s such a good photographer, and shows them in their natural settings, doing what they do, you sometimes can see detail that the books and identification websites don’t show. (Sometimes her site loads slowly — probably because it’s so image-heavy.)
Your photos are really appealing!
Thank you. I will look there.
The beak looks Coopers. So does the coloring.
Nice photos. I’m often fooled by juvenile red-tails so won’t venture a guess. We’ve had a Cooper’s hanging around the hood this summer, for which I rejoice. But I do keep a close eye on my puppy 🙂
We saw a Cooper take a squirrel one day. Caught it completely by surprise. Coopers are so fast.
Yes and stealthy. Sometimes I’ll look up and there he’ll be, watching us intently and I’ll wonder, “how long were you there?”