Photo Study Of A Sharp-shinned Hawk And Some Feeder Friends At Peace Valley Park (Bucks County), January 9th, 2011

    I spent an hour and a half freezing in the Peace Valley Park Nature Center Bird Blind today. It was worth it! A Sharp-shinned Hawk came in at least three times while
    I was there and spooked out all the feeder birds. But they kept coming back and the beautiful Sharpie, although menacing, came up empty-taloned!

Sharp-shinned Hawk

    The Sharp-shinned Hawk (Accipiter striatus) is a small hawk ( 11 inches long;  23 inch wingspan) and a regular visitor to bird feeders, where it eats birds, not seed. The male and
    female show a greater disparity in size than any other American hawk; the female is nearly twice the weight of the male. The nominate (A. s. striatus) group is widespread in
    North America, occurring throughout a large part of USA and Canada, except in the ice-covered regions of the far north. Populations in the northern part of the range migrate
    south and spend the non-breeding season (winter) in southern USA, Mexico and Central America as far south as Panama, with a smaller number spending the winter in the
    Greater Antilles. Resident populations exist in temperate parts of  the USA, Canada (in a few coastal regions), Mexico (in the highlands from Sonora to Oaxaca), Cuba,
    Hispaniola and Puerto Rico. These birds surprise and capture all their prey from cover or while flying quickly through thick vegetation. They are adept at navigating dense
    thickets. The great majority of this hawk's prey is small birds, especially various songbirds such as sparrows, wood-warblers and American Robins. Birds caught have ranged
    from a 4.4 gram Anna's Hummingbird to a 1 1/4 pound Ruffed Grouse and any bird within this size range is potential prey. Typically, males will target smaller birds, such as
    sparrows, and females will pursue larger prey, such as American Robins and Flickers. They often pluck the feathers off their prey on a post or other perch. Rarely,
    Sharp-shinned Hawks will also eat rodents, lizards, frogs, snakes and large insects. (Cornell BNA; Wikipedia; Sibley Guide To Birds)

    Species seen today:

    To see a larger image of any of the photos below, please click on either the thumbnails or the captions...thanks!

 © Howard B. Eskin 2011      Please click here to email your comments to <hbeskin@voicenet.com>        Please click here to go back to Bird Webpage Index