What Kind of Bird is this?

[wonder]

Had a bird feasting on our young chicks last week.  Killed 3 of them in one afternoon and carried none out of the coup?  Main chicken coup is completely covered next door to this enclosure as this is a makeshift rearing area that we did not intend to house a new batch of chicks but were forced to due to a rebel hen that got out and hatched 16 babies.

One bird was killed and left intact, one bird was partially devoured, and one bird was devoured and it looks like some predator attempted to drag it thru our horse fence but it got stuck.

That last bird was picked clean?  I am thinking it's a Goshawk based on it's size and plumage.  It looks too big for a Sharp Shinned or Coopers but was hoping we have a resident expert out there with Raptors?

[bowhunterforever]

Looks like a falcon to me

[buckcanyonlodge]

Sharp shinned hawk..They loved my chickens  until they learned not to dine on Col. Wakefields chicken.

[Old Dog]

...or possibly a Cooper's hawk.  They are marked a lot like the sharp shinned, but are a little bigger.   

[wonder]

After looking thru my Sibley's guide I am leaning on that too.  Sharp Shinned is kind of small and it says they are only 11 inches tall where as Cooper's Hawk is about 16.5 inches.  Goshawk jumps all the way up to 21 inches and the coloring doesn't match unless this one was juvenile?  Hopefully I can get a color picture next time.  Light was too low so my camera just took a black and white.

Thanks for the feedback.  Let all the chickens run around this morning until an hour a go and no losses.  Never ending battle when you are in their territory.

[HighlandLofts]

Looks like a cooper hawk, same color and they dine on other birds for the most part.  There generally move on after a few days. They sit out of view and ambush their victim and chickens are easy pickings. The usually pluck the head off when they get their prey in their tallons.

[buckcanyonlodge]

Does look a little big for a sharp shinned. I have had sharp shinned kill full grown roosters..wicked little buggers

[boneaddict]

I’d have went with Sharp Shinned as well.   
Pretty much takes an expert to tell the two apart.   They are deadly little *censored*s. 

[Bill W]

what's the rules on hawks in the act of depredation? 

[HighlandLofts]

Kill one and it is a $5,000 fine and instead of jail time you get probation. I know a few people who got caught in Oregon and comiefornia.

[wonder]

Hoping for a color picture round 2.  Maybe send it to the local BIO?  Not planning on snuffing any aerial predator at any time unless attacked and can't escape.  That will probably never happen right?

Son had a immature bald eagle come in and take a swipe at him and our dog earlier this year.  No harm no foul.  Thanks for the feedback though

[boneaddict]

Tail and legs are your two indicators.

[boneaddict]

@DOUBLELUNG

[DOUBLELUNG]

Looks like a Cooper's, I'm not seeing much for scale but based on Wonder's thinking it's too big for a sharpie or Coopers my guess is a female Coopers.  markings are right for sharpies and Coopers, when perched like that the bottom of a Coopers tail is fairly rounded while a sharpie is pronouncedly square. 

If it was a goshawk, juvenile or adult, I'd expect to be able to see the light eyestripe above the eye, and the breast streaking is too horizontal for a juvenile gos and not fine enough for an adult. 

However, with the lack of detail and color, all I'm really confident is that it's an accipiter, which of course includes all 3 of the suspects.  A better birder than me may be able to distinguish species from these photos.   

[Widgeondeke]

i know i know......its a chicken killer 

sorry, i am not true help on this one