Thank you, all, for the Coops/Sharpie discussion.  I still find id'ing
them problematic, but your comments have helped, especially since we had a
visit from what I now believe was a Cooper's yesterday at our feeders in
Charlotte.  As has happened several times in the last few weeks, all the
small birds at the feeders took off en masse, leaving the assembled
Mourning Doves sitting frozen in position on the ground.  Figuring there
was an avian predator in the area, I investigated and sure enough, high in
a tree directly across the road from the feeder sat a Coopers.  By the
time I'd gotten my scope out, the bird was gone.  Later in the day, I saw
an immature Coopers/Sharpie fly across the horse paddock, intent on
whereever it was headed.  The juvenile has made a brief stop-over on a
fence post by the feeder in the last month or so.  Seems we have more
hawks of various kinds around now than in the past.

Holly F. Hungerford
Vt. Public Television
88 Ethan Allen Ave.
Colchester, VT  05446
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