Cooper's Hawk? Or Merlin Falcon?
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?
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You get a hint of the breast coloring from the neck it’s got that tawny look.
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
