Sharp-shinned Hawk
Learn to identify the Sharp-shinned Hawk by ear. Master the "kik-kik-kik-kik" phrase and tell it apart from similar species.
What the Sharp-shinned Hawk sounds like
A flying hawk lets out drawn, piercing weeps with plenty of air between them—quite unlike its hurried kiks.
How to tell it apart
Lessons featuring the Sharp-shinned Hawk
Ready to test your ear? Practice identifying the Sharp-shinned Hawk's sounds in this interactive in-app lesson.
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Where you'll hear it
Breeds across boreal Canada, the northern and western United States, and high elevations of Mexico and Central America. Winters from southern Canada to Panama.
Prefers coniferous and mixed deciduous forests, forest edges, shelterbelts, and wooded suburbs. Often seen in migration along ridges and coastlines.
Long-distance migrant: northern breeders depart August-October and return March-May. Southern mountain populations are resident or make short elevational movements.
How to recognize it by sight
The Sharp-shinned Hawk is North America’s smallest accipiter, a swift, stealthy woodland raptor built for surprise attacks on unsuspecting songbirds. With short rounded wings and a long, narrow tail it maneuvers through dense canopy like a feathered missile, bursting from cover to snatch prey in mid-air.
Similar species
Cooper’s Hawk
Sharp-shinned smaller with proportionally shorter head that rarely projects beyond wings in flight.
Merlin
Falcon with pointed wings vs. rounded in Sharp-shinned.
American Kestrel
Much smaller falcon with rusty back and tail.