Prairie? Falcon looking for lunch

[GentryDixon]

Taken from inside, through glass. When the birds scattered I knew something was afoot.








Camera Make: KONICA MINOLTA

Camera Model: DiMAGE Z20

Date/Time: 2009:04:01 11:08:32

Resolution: 1024 x 768

Flash Used: No (auto)

Digital Zoom: 1.500x

Exposure Time: 0.0025 s (1/400)

Aperture: f/4.8

ISO Equiv.: 50


Whitebalance: Auto

Metering Mode: matrix

Exposure: program (auto)

[REACTIVATED IN CT]

1. What neck of the woods was this taken in ? n/t

[GentryDixon]

2. Northern Utah.

[semillama]

3. Sure it's not a juvenile Cooper's Hawk?

That's what I would call it. That's the eye of an accipiter for sure!

Here's a photo of one that I took a couple months ago for comparison:

[XemaSab]

4. That's a particularly pale individual

Cooper's Hawk would be my guess for the bird in the OP too.

[IDemo]

5. It's either a Coopers or a Sharp-Shinned hawk

We were told by a raptor biologist that the bird visiting our backyard is a Sharp-Shinned hawk.
(Note the leg band).