Migrant type: Resident to long-distance migrant

Sharp-shinned Hawks of the Appalachians and Western mountains may remain there year-round, while birds that breed in the northern U.S. and Canada migrate and may winter in the rest of the U.S. or migrate as far as southern Central America. During migration, they can be found in open habitats or high in the sky, flying along ridgelines.

They do not stoop on prey and instead speed through dense woods to surprise their prey, typically other birds. They will breed in deep forests and during nonbreeding season, they hunt small birds and some mammals along forest edges and backyard bird feeders.

These birds look very similar to the Cooper’s hawk but are smaller and have a squared tip to their tail rather than a rounded tip like the Cooper’s hawk. They will fly in a similar accipiter style but with a single flap-glide pattern. They have different colorations the farther into Mexico and Central America they go.