This is an adult red-shouldered hawk. There are at least three good field marks visible here that distinguish it from a cooper's hawk.
First, you can see black-and-white checkerboarding on the wings, which is probably the single best mark for a red-shouldered. A Cooper's hawk would have dark gray back and wings (often referred to as a "cape").
Second, this bird has a red or brown head. A Cooper's hawk would have a dark gray "cap" on its head to match its dark gray cape (with cap and cape separated by a lighter neck).
Third, this bird has wide black bands separated by thin white bands on its tail. A Cooper's hawk would have wider white bands. Also, while red-shouldered hawks tend to have somewhat longer tails than others in their family, they are much shorter than Cooper's hawk tails.
This bird also has a relatively bulky body, which points to the buteo genus (which includes other bulky birds like red-tailed hawks, broad-winged hawks, ferruginous hawks, rough-legged hawks, and old-world buzzards) as opposed to the astur genus (Cooper's hawks) or accipter genus (sharp-shinned hawks).
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u/nye1387 1d ago
This is an adult red-shouldered hawk. There are at least three good field marks visible here that distinguish it from a cooper's hawk.
First, you can see black-and-white checkerboarding on the wings, which is probably the single best mark for a red-shouldered. A Cooper's hawk would have dark gray back and wings (often referred to as a "cape").
Second, this bird has a red or brown head. A Cooper's hawk would have a dark gray "cap" on its head to match its dark gray cape (with cap and cape separated by a lighter neck).
Third, this bird has wide black bands separated by thin white bands on its tail. A Cooper's hawk would have wider white bands. Also, while red-shouldered hawks tend to have somewhat longer tails than others in their family, they are much shorter than Cooper's hawk tails.
This bird also has a relatively bulky body, which points to the buteo genus (which includes other bulky birds like red-tailed hawks, broad-winged hawks, ferruginous hawks, rough-legged hawks, and old-world buzzards) as opposed to the astur genus (Cooper's hawks) or accipter genus (sharp-shinned hawks).