Originally posted by csa Thanks Ron! All I have are side views. Here's a couple more. Again, apologies for poor lighting. These last photos show a white with black bars on underside of tail. The stripes going sideways across the breast, could it be a Northern Hawk Owl?
With the brick-red barring on the breast and belly, the grey back, fluffy white undertail coverts, short wings, and long tail, it can't be anything but one of the two North American
Accipiter species that have brick-red undersides, i.e., Sharp-shinned or Cooper's Hawk (adult). These two species are notoriously difficult to tell apart because a large female Sharpie's size approaches that of a small male Cooper's (females are larger in most raptors) and size is very hard to judge without an object of known size next to the bird. Because the crown feathers are messed up (obscuring the crown colour and shape) and we can't see the terminal band on the tail, it's hard to tell which of the two it is. Both species are present year-round in western Montana. I lean toward calling it a Sharpie because it doesn't appear to have a pale nape or to have a crown that is darker-coloured than the back.