A sharp-shinned hawk has pencil-thin legs, while a Cooper's hawk has noticeably thick legs. The sharp-shinned hawk has a small, rounded head with a gray cap extending from the crown to the nape.

Home of the Big Apple itself, you may not think of hawks when you think of New York. In fact, when you think of New York, the ...

In Michigan, the Cooper's hawk belongs to a group of birds called accipiters, which includes sharp-shinned hawks and northern goshawks.

The sharp-shinned hawk is the smallest member of a group of raptors known as the “accipiters.” The members of this group include the sharp-shinned hawk, the Cooper’s hawk and the Northern goshawk ...

I believe it was either a sharp-shinned hawk or Cooper’s hawk, as both frequent our yard. I was too flustered at the time to take a photo.

A blue jay (top left) and an immature sharp-shinned hawk (bottom right) take flight from an Eastern cottonwood during an ongoing feud that was amusing to observe.

The blue flash will be either a sharp-shinned or a Cooper's hawk — the infamous "chicken hawks" of rural lore that primarily feed on other birds.

The Cooper's is larger, about the size of a crow, Haley says. Getty Images / Sharp-Shinned Hawk On roadsides The red-tailed hawk is "the most familiar, most abundant of buteos," says Haley.