Cooper's Hawk? Or Merlin Falcon?

[mnhtnbb]

I managed to grab a couple of shots of this bird yesterday when I noticed it flying through my yard. It's drawn to the birds that come to my feeders. I did not get a shot of its chest, nor did I notice chest markings when it was flying from the front of the courtyard to the back fence where it perched. I thought it might be a falcon because it is much smaller than the Red Tailed hawks which I see regularly, but the closest it comes to matching is a Merlin columbarius, although this bird appears to have more white on its head than a Merlin. When I Google id the photo, a Eurasian Sparrowhawk comes up, but they aren't found in the US.

This bird has more blue/grey plumage than I thought a Cooper's Hawk would have, but also has more white on the head than I thought the Merlin Falcon would have.

Anyone have thoughts on what it is?

[2naSalit]

1. Cooper's hawk.

[MiHale]

2. Agree with 2na...Cooper's ...

You get a hint of the breast coloring from the neck it’s got that tawny look.

[Walleye]

3. Here's my shot from a couple of weeks ago pretty sure it's a Cooper's hawk

This is another, not too sharp picture through the window, of the front of the same bird. I looked it up and it may be a female or juvenile

Cooper’s Hawks have that horizontal band across their tail

[mnhtnbb]

6. The white band on the tail definitely matches the Cooper's.

This shot was taken through the window, too. I'd seen--I think--the same bird the previous day, but my camera wasn't close enough to grab to get a shot before it flew off. This time I managed to get a couple of shots--barely--before it flew away.

[wendyb-NC]

4. It might indeed be a Cooper's Hawk

The other one I can think of is a Sharp-shinned Hawk. The Cooper's is said to be 16 inches head to tail, whereas the Sharp-shinned Hawk is about 12 inches, head to tail.

Nice photo, thanks for sharing it.

[mnhtnbb]

5. The white band on the rounded tail matches the Cooper's

and so does the size. The opening in the railing where it's sitting is 8" from the bottom to top and is helpful for comparing the size of the bird.