ML646852865

Observation details

Seen just as I was about to put my camera and binoculars away. I am landing on Cooper's, I first thought merlin based on size and, what in darker light appeared to be grey streaking. I then thought sharp-shinned based on what I thought was a small head and the impression I had that the bird was quite small. Upon looking more closely at the structure of the head in the photos, I am ending up on Cooper's hawk. I think I need to spend some more time looking through ebird photos of the two species, certainly a blow to my confidence and a reminder that without a reference bird size can be difficult to judge, haha.