The Sharp-shinned Hawk is a regular visitor to our place in Portuguese Cove especially in the winter. These beautiful birds are as vicious as they are good looking. They do not kill their prey but eat them alive sometimes departing after their fill with the prey still alive and suffering horribly. I believe birds are sentient creatures and feel fear and suffering just like us. To call this process, "just nature", is abhorrent but as is said in the movie Jurassic Park, "they just do what they do". Last year a Sharp-shinned Hawk killed(I hope) a Northern Mocking Bird before I could save it.

Characteristic of this species is a small head and dinky legs. The square tail is not diagnostic. Interesting, I had its larger cousin the Cooper's Hawk visit very briefly last week. It was as large as a crow.

Sharp-shinned Hawk

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