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January 10, 2007

Answer to Bird Identification Contest

Last week I posted a 19 second video on this site and asked folks to try and identify the bird in the video. I promised an answer today, so here it is! Here's the video again to refresh your memory;

Here was your list of choices;

1. Fish Crow
2. Red-tailed Hawk
3. Merlin
4. Red-shouldered Hawk
5. Sharp-shinned Hawk
6. Northern Harrier
7. American Crow
8. Mississippi Kite
9. Pileated Woodpecker
10. Peregrine Falcon
11. Cooper's Hawk
12. American Kestrel

First of all, the bird is a raptor, so we can rule out those birds on the list that are NOT raptors. That rules out the Pileated Woodpecker, Fish Crow, and the American Crow.

Since July is the breeding season, we can rule out birds that don't breed in SE Tennessee. That eliminates the Northern Harrier, and the Mississippi Kite.

If you look at the video, you'll notice that the bird does not have the swept back wings that are characteristic of a Falcon, so we can rule out the Peregrine Falcon, the American Kestrel, and the Merlin.

Now, if we look closely at the video, you'll see that the bird has a long tail. That identifies the bird as belonging to the genus Accipiter. So that would rule out two additional species that belong to the genus Buteo. Now we can scratch off the Red-tailed Hawk, and the beautiful Red-shouldered Hawk.

That leaves two remaining choices;

1. Sharp-shinned Hawk
2. Cooper's Hawk

Now these two species can be very difficult to tell apart, but there are several hints that betray what the bird is. First of all, a close look indicates that the bird has a rounded tail. You'll also notice that the bird's head protrudes beyond the leading edge of the wing, which is commonly referred to as the wrist. Lastly, the bird has a very characteristic flap towards the end of the video. The flap is not quite as rapid as that of the Sharp-shinned Hawk. That's right! The bird is a Coopers Hawk.

Now, I asked if you could identify a second bird in the video. If you listen carefully, there is an American Crow that calls briefly. The videographer - Dick Schier - reported that the Cooper's Hawk was "dog-fighting" with the crow a few minutes before the video was taken.

Finally, there was a trick question asking if you could identify the sex of the bird. The answer is - you can not. The reason being, Cooper's Hawks do not exhibit sexual dimorphism - meaning, you can not differentiate between the male and female of the species based upon the plumage. Two birds on the list above do exhibit sexual dimorphism however. Those two species would be the American Kestrel and the Northern Harrier.

Now, if we had a mated pair of Cooper's Hawks, and they were sitting side by side, the larger of the two birds would be the female. But with only one bird in the video, it is not possible to sex the bird.

Thanks for playing along. And thank you to Dick Schier for sharing the video!

Birding | By Jeffrey Hunter | 12:34 AM

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