Accipiter striatus
Coffee Creek Watershed Preserve
The Sharp-shinned Hawk is our smallest
hawk. It grows up to 14 inches long, with a wingspan of 21
inches. Females are larger than males. Adult Sharpies are slate gray on thier
backs and wings, and they have rust-colored bars on their
chests and bellies. They have red eyes. Young birds are
browner. Sharp-shinned Hawks have short wings and
long tails. The tail has dark bands and the tip is squared
off. Sharpies are fast-flying birds that live
and breed
in forests.
They can also be found hunting in thickets,
parks, and forest
edges. These hawks migrate
South each fall, but some stay in our area each winter. Most
of the sharpies return in April and May. Shortly after arriving in the Spring,
Sharp-shinned Hawks mate and build a nest. Nests are usually
built in an evergreen
tree.
Materials include sticks, twigs,
bark
strips, pine needles,
and grass. Sometimes an old crow or squirrel nest is
used. Eggs
are whitish with brown blotches. Young hawks hatch about
five weeks after eggs are laid. It takes another three weeks
before they are able to leave the nest. Both parents help
raise young. The male hunts for food to feed them, while the
female guards the nest. Case Western Reserve
University Manitou Island Bird
Survey Sharp-shinned Hawks eat
mostly small birds, though they can catch and kill birds
their own size. Other prey
include large insects
(such as grasshoppers, dragonflies, and beetles), small
mammals (including bats and mice), lizards, small snakes.
amd frogs. A hawk usually takes its
prey to a feeding perch, which may be a dead tree or fallen
log. There it uses its sharp talons and beak to tear apart
its prey. You can sometimes find a hawk's feeding perch
nearby piles of feathers or bird parts. Sharp-shinned hawks are
very agile fliers, and can chase prey through
dense
bushes or thickets. Copyright, Hilton Pond
Center Copyright, Hilton Pond
Center Sharp-shinned Hawks
compete
with crows and larger birds of prey who try to steal their
meals. Predators
of sharpies include Bald Eagles, Peregrine Falcons, and nest
robbers such as Black Rat Snakes and Raccoons. Nancy Beck, Long Island
Birding.com
Copyright, Bill Schmoker