Pacifica, San Mateo County, California, USA; 29 November 2007 This morning as I was working at my desk, was alerted by excited screaming from our back yard. It turned out be from this juvenile Sharp-shinned Hawk who had just nailed a European Starling below our feeder. Over 90% of this species' diet consists of small birds. The spread wing and tail is called "mantling" which is exhibited by most raptors as a defensive pose when they have a kill they want to protect. This species is almost identical to the larger Cooper's Hawk (Accipiter cooperii). Identification is especially difficult because females are larger than males in both species. I'm pretty sure this is a Sharp-shinned because of its broad, blurry ventral stripes extending to the belly (narrower and crisper on the belly of Cooper's), it's long spindly legs (stronger and more robust on Cooper's), relatively large eyes (relatively smaller on Cooper's because of its larger head), rounded crown (more square often with a slight crest on Cooper's), cold brown neck and shoulders (often tawny on Cooper's), and square appearing tail corners (more rounded on Cooper's). However I confess that after over 30 years of trying, my track record on Accipiter ID is not great. Corrections are welcome. Depending on taxonomy, up to 10 subspecies are recognized. Assuming I have the ID correct, this is the widespread North American race _A. striatus velox_. Paler subspecies are found in the tropics and darker subspecies are recognized from the Pacific Northwest and from parts of South America. Canon PS S3IS @ 12X optical zoom, portrait mode, through window.