Sharp-Shinned Hawk

Fine Art Americas (FAA) watermark does NOT appear on sold art as FAA removes the watermark before each sold copy is museum quality printed onto... more

by DB Hayes

Title

Sharp-Shinned Hawk

Artist

DB Hayes

Medium

Photograph - Photography, Photograph

Description

Fine Art Americas (FAA) watermark does NOT appear on sold art as FAA removes the watermark before each sold copy is "museum quality" printed onto canvass, photo-paper, metal, acrylic or any of FAA's many other available medias regardless of which one is chosen by the buyer.

COPYRIGHT DISCLOSURE NOTICE: THIS IS A COPYRIGHTED, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED PROTECTED IMAGE.

We are proud to write the following highly respected art groups have featured our "Sharo-Shinned Hawk" image;

1 - Animal Photographs: Featured on March 04, 2017
2 - A Birding Groups - Wings: Featured on March 04, 2017
3 - Poetic Poultry: Featured on March 05, 2017
4 - Pictures For Present: Featured on March 05, 2017
5 - Created by Southern Artists: Featured on March 05, 2017
6 - USA Photographers ONLY: Featured on March 06, 2017
7 - Wild Birds Of The World: Featured on March 06, 2017
8 - Images That Excite You: Featured on March 06, 2017
9 - FAA Portraits - Birds: Featured on March 07, 2017
10 - Your Very Best Photography: Featured on March 07, 2017
11 - Birds In Focus: Featured on March 09, 2017
12 - All About Nature And The Animals: Featured on March 12, 2017

Believe it or not Deb was sitting on or our back patio this Saturday (2-04-17) afternoon with her Canon camera plus her 150-600 mm Sigma lens attached when this gorgeous sharp-shinned hawk flew down and landed on one of our bird feeder suet arms. Now-a-days we don't usually post bird images if they were captured on our feeders but this is an exception as this is the very first sharp-shinned hawk we have ever seen land in our back yard since moving here in late 2005. We've seen other larger hawks but not this species. Of course, the smaller birds all flew off like crazy once this beauty came flying in and who could blame them. Following is some information we think you may find interesting about this species.

The sharp-shinned hawk (Accipiter striatus) is a small hawk described from Hispaniola, with males being the smallest hawks in the United States and Canada, but with the species averaging larger than some Neotropical species, such as tiny hawk. The taxonomy is far from resolved, with some authorities considering the southern taxa to represent three separate species: white-breasted hawk (A. chionogaster), plain-breasted hawk (A. ventralis), and rufous-thighed hawk (A. erythronemius).

Sharp-shinned hawk is often separated into four species, with the northern group (see distribution) retaining both the scientific name and the common name: Sharp-shinned hawk (A. striatus). In addition to the nominate taxon (A. s. striatus), it includes subspecies perobscurus, velox, suttoni, madrensis, fringilloides, and venator. The three remaining taxa, each considered a monotypic species if split, are the white-breasted hawk (A. chionogaster; Kaup, 1852), plain-breasted hawk (A. ventralis; Sclater, 1866) and rufous-thighed hawk (A. erythronemius; Kaup, 1850). The breeding ranges of the groups are entirely allopatric, although the wintering range of the nominate group partially overlaps with the range of chionogaster (as is also the case with certain taxa within the nominate group). This allopatry combined with differences in plumage (see appearance) and, apparently, certain measurements, has been the background for the split, but hard scientific data are presently lacking (AOU). Disregarding field guides, most material published in recent years (e.g. AOU, Ferguson-Lees et al. p. 586, and Dickinson et al.) has therefore considered all to be members of a single widespread species but not without equivocation: Ferguson-Lees et al. say that if they were to make a world list, they would include the three taxa as separate species (p. 75), and the AOU's comment includes the note "split almost certainly good".
Storer (1952) suggested that the southernmost populations within the nominate group were paler below, thus approaching Chionogaster. This has also been reflected in recent guides, where A. S. Madrensis of southern Mexico is described as being relatively pale below (compared to more northern subspecies), but if this is a sign of intergradation with Chionogaster or a north-south cline which includes both the members of the nominate group and chionogaster remains unclear. In Bolivia, ventralis and erythronemius approach each other, but no evidence of intergradation is known something that, without actual specimens, also would be hard to prove due to the variability in the plumage of ventralis.

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"Art Excites The Soul"

Bill and Deb Hayes

Uploaded

March 4th, 2017