Guide

Right outsideBirds

Cooper's and sharp-shinned hawks at bird feeders

October to March

From fall through winter, Cooper's hawks and sharp-shinned hawks hunt songbirds at backyard feeders in Massachusetts, and a feeder that suddenly empties of birds may have one nearby. Cooper's hawks are about crow-sized with a rounded tail tip; sharp-shinned hawks are about six inches smaller with a square-cornered tail.

Why this time of year

Sharp-shinned hawks, here mostly on migration and in winter, can camp at a busy feeder for the easy prey; Cooper's hawks nest in Massachusetts suburbs and hunt feeders too.

How to notice it

  1. If the feeder goes quiet all at once, scan nearby branches, fence posts and hedges for a perched hawk with a long tail and short rounded wings.
  2. Look at the tail tip: rounded suggests a Cooper's hawk, square with corners suggests a sharp-shinned hawk.
  3. If it soars overhead: a Cooper's hawk's big head sticks out well past the wings; a sharp-shinned hawk's small head barely clears them.
  4. It is natural predation. If it bothers you, Mass Audubon suggests stopping the seed for a few weeks so the hawk hunts elsewhere.

Try this with kids: All the feeder birds disappeared at once. Can you find who scared them away?

accipiter: a family of long-tailed, short-winged hawks built for dashing through trees after birds

Sources

  • massaudubon.orgMass Audubon: sharp-shinned and Cooper's hawks prey on birds at feeders; predation is a natural occurrence; people upset by a hawk near a feeder should stop putting out seed for a few weeks.
  • massaudubon.orgMass Audubon: it is not uncommon for a sharp-shinned hawk to frequent a feeding station while there are abundant birds there as easy prey.
  • feederwatch.orgProject FeederWatch (Cornell Lab): both commonly prey on feeder birds; sharp-shinned tail square-tipped with corners, Cooper's rounded; in flight the sharp-shinned's small head barely extends past the wings while the Cooper's head projects far beyond.
  • audubon.orgNational Audubon: a hawk terrorizing feeder visitors is most likely a Cooper's or sharp-shinned; Cooper's are about six inches bigger than sharpies.
  • feederwatch.orgProject FeederWatch: hawk predation records at feeders analyzed for October 2015 to April 2022.
  • massaudubon.orgMass Audubon Breeding Bird Atlas 1: sharp-shinned hawk observed primarily during migration and in winter; the most common avian predator at winter bird feeders.
  • massaudubon.orgMass Audubon Breeding Bird Atlas: Cooper's hawk uses wooded suburbs as breeding habitat in Massachusetts.

Checked against these sources on September 28, 2026.

In the guide for October, November, December, January, February, March

Also worth noticing