Sharp-shinned Hawk

Birds are fascinating. They are actually dinosaurs, part of the Dromaeosaur family. Of course, they have evolved and changed since the classic age of dinosaurs to become the many different birds we all know, but they are still true dinosaurs. One such dinosaur that I saw in my yard on April 18, 2022, is the Sharp-shinned Hawk. Unfortunately, I did not have time to get a picture. 

The Sharp-shinned Hawk looks much like a Cooper's hawk, but smaller. Both of these two hawks have incredible agility in flight. They can weave through the forest, among and around trees and shrubs at high speed. They have this adaptation to help them hunt. Their diet mainly consists of songbirds. The sharp-shinned hawk uses its speed and agility to chase down and catch songbirds. They will sometimes sit overlooking backyard birdfeeders waiting for a meal to fly in. 

The Cooper's hawk similarly eats other birds, but because it is larger than the Sharp-shinned hawk it can catch larger prey. In fact, several years ago I was hiking on the mountain near my house when I found a Cooper's Hawk eating a Sharp-shinned Hawk!

Taxonomy of the Sharp-shinned Hawk

Kingdom: Animalia

Phyllum: Chordata

Class: Aves

Order: Accipitriformes

Family: Accipitridae

Genus: Accipiter

Species: Accipiter striatus

Habitat of the Sharp-shinned Hawk

Variations of the Sharp-shinned hawk can be found through North and South America and the Caribbean. Those in the colder northern climates typically migrate south for the winter.

Reproduction of the Accipiter striatus

The Sharp-shinned haws lays as many as eight eggs or as few as three in a hidden nests. The eggs are about 1.5" long. They take about 30 days to hatch. After hatching the baby birds stay in the nest, protected by the mother for about 3 weeks, give our take a few days. During this time the father will continue hunting and bringing meat back to the nest. Once the babies leave the nest, they will stay nearby and still call for food from the parents, who continue to feed and protect them for about another four weeks.

Staus of the Accipiter striatus Population

The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species says the Sharp-shinned Hawk is a species of Least Concern and has a growing population. Although numbers dropped in the 1960's and 1970's, they are rebounding with new environmental protections such as banning the widespread use of harmful pesticides.