Accipiter at Desert Aire Washington 27jan2013 ©Kevin S Lucas

Accipiter at Desert Aire Washington 27jan2013 ©Kevin S Lucas

Is this a Cooper's Hawk or a Northern Goshawk?

In this horribly blurry photo of an accipiter:

> Cooper's Hawk
I don't see the more jaggy narrow white edges to the tail bands shown
by Sibley for the Goshawk on page 113, but various guides note they're
not always apparent.

> either Coop's or Gos:
Size? Certainly much bigger than a Sharpie.
When it pulled up to land, it's tail fan looked extremely wide.

> Northern Goshawk:
The supercilium does appear prominent, and I do recall it, but I'd not
call it "white" as Sibley does for the juvenile Gos, even though in
his illustration of the juv it is certainly not pure white, rather
it's buffy. In "Hawks in Flight" by Sibley, Dunne, & Sutton, they
describe a white or creamy or virtually non-existent supercilium on
juveniles.
The light speckling & jagged line on the upper wing is shown &
described for Goshawk (& not for Coop's), but it could be the feathers
are fluffed out, letting us see the white undersides of them.
The trailing edge of the upperwing coverts looks black, as illustrated
for Goshawk (not buffy / light brown as illustrated for Cooper's).
The transition on the trailing edge of the wing is abruptly stepped at
the primaries/secondaries junction; the wing tips appear long &
tapered (compared with more rounded for Coop's)
The wing trailing edge has a distinctly strong S shape.
Wingbeats seemed smooth & strong, not stiff & arthritic.