Accipiter Slam? - Mt. Hood, Oregon

[Colton V]

These photos were taken two minutes apart. 9/18, Paradise Park on Mt. Hood, Oregon. In the field I thought I only had Sharpie and Goshawk, but it looks like the one flying with the Gos might be a Cooper's. So now I don't know if the one in the tree is Sharpie or Coop. 

Edited September 24 by Colton V

[Colton V]

At one point there were three hawks flying together, one big Goshawk and two smaller ones. Here is another flight comparison photo, but I'm not sure if it's the same hawk pictured with the Goshawk above. 

[Birds are cool]

The birds flying look like coop to me, but don't take my word for it. Sweet bird, the goshawk!

[Jerry Friedman]

The perched bird looks almost like a buteo to me, with the unstreaked cheeks and prominent mustache.  But it fits Cooper's better than Sharp-shinned, in my opinion, since the underpart streaks are blackish rather than rufous, and the head pattern is stronger and more colorful.  I also don't see the small-head no-neck look of a Sharp-shinned.  I also like Cooper's for the smaller flying birds, with straight leading edges to the wings and apparently a well-projected head in the last picture.

I like the Goshawk!

[DLecy]

13 minutes ago, Jerry Friedman said:

The perched bird looks almost like a buteo to me, with the unstreaked cheeks and prominent mustache.  But it fits Cooper's better than Sharp-shinned, in my opinion, since the underpart streaks are blackish rather than rufous, and the head pattern is stronger and more colorful.  I also don't see the small-head no-neck look of a Sharp-shinned.  I also like Cooper's for the smaller flying birds, with straight leading edges to the wings and apparently a well-projected head in the last picture.

I like the Goshawk!

I agree. I was going to ask why that first bird isn’t a Red-shouldered Hawk?

[DLecy]

I’m having a hard time getting a read on the smaller accipiter. I‘m not sold on it as either a Coop or Sharpie at this point. Do you have other pics?

[Colton V]

Here are more pics of the bird in the tree. It flew away and I managed to get some rear end shots:

Here are more pics of the bird(s) that were flying with the Goshawk:

[Colton V]

Habitat was alpine forest near the timberline at 5,750' elevation

Edited September 24 by Colton V

[Jerry Friedman]

I think the last three pictures are Coops, with the head projecting well beyond even bent wings.

I also think shots 5 and and 7 in this set have a very similar head pattern to the perched bird and could easily be the same individual.

If you don't get a definitive answer here, or even if you do, the people at the Raptor ID group on Facebook might be interested.

[Jerry Friedman]

@Colton V These are still bugging me.  Can I post them to Facebook?

[Colton V]

2 hours ago, Jerry Friedman said:

@Colton V These are still bugging me.  Can I post them to Facebook?

Go for it. I’ve put the pics on iNaturalist and all but the goshawk have been IDed as Cooper’s. But I’m always happy to have more opinions.

[Jerry Friedman]

23 hours ago, Colton V said:

Go for it. I’ve put the pics on iNaturalist and all but the goshawk have been IDed as Cooper’s. But I’m always happy to have more opinions.

Dan Zirbel on FB agreed.  For the perched bird, he noted that the lack of striping on the face is within variation, and the teardrop streaking and the wings ending at the base of the tail (which I can't really see in these pictures) are good for Coop, along with other details that distinguish it from Sharpie.

[Colton V]

33 minutes ago, Jerry Friedman said:

Dan Zirbel on FB agreed.  For the perched bird, he noted that the lack of striping on the face is within variation, and the teardrop streaking and the wings ending at the base of the tail (which I can't really see in these pictures) are good for Coop, along with other details that distinguish it from Sharpie.

Thank you for getting that confirmed, I appreciate it!