Size question serious

Is there such a thing as a “ large or very large Cooper’s hawk”. I have heard of a huge elephant and a huge rat. Since rats live with humans and humans discard food, cooked and uncooked, and egg shells, rinds, and bones I can assume there will be huge rats.

Have you ever been in the field, when yer friend yells “ Hey Evets (Steve backwards), look at this huge Song Sparrow.” On any e- bird report, have you seen a large White - crowned sparrow. If you observe a huge Red- tailed hawk, you can place that hawk in the bin with the Harlan’s red - tailed. Many years ago I was with a few birders from the Skagit Audubon. We were at Samish Flats, an open area on the roadside with  telephone poles and wires. There was a Merlin perched at close range on the wire. The background was sky- monotone. Is this why the hawk appeared very large or was it because I had not observed a Merlin perched at close range, for many years. I was informed by the birder next to me - No the bird does not appear large. The hawk appears just right.

Now , you know this posting is going to slip right into Northern Goshawks. I say this- if you think you observed a Goshawk- then you probably did. But the few factors that you present must point in the right direction. Location is not as important as the season. I am suggesting that if you observed a large Cooper’s hawk in flight or perched, that the hawk was not a male NG. Since a male NG is slightly larger than a female Cooper’s, and at a distance of more than 50 feet it is too difficult to resolve the difference, I say you probably observed a female NG. If you are familiar with the Cooper’s in flight, but you cannot describe what you observed, except to say - There was something funny about the hawk — something different, well it is still possible you observed a NG. On this posting, I will not describe identification.



So, this posting talks briefly of size. Size might depend upon intensity and direction of light. It might also depend upon the background and the color and the texture of the background. But, to you really think that size is important. Well, it ain’t. Size matters to the bird; size matters to the scientist. Size makes the bird, or the bird makes its size — or both. I will continue on another day. NB.