I had the chance to closely study an immature accipiter in my backyard this last weekend. With Sibley's and Wheeler's opened before me I studied size (sharpy), iris color (cooper's), square tail (sharpy), dark brown finely marked breast (cooper's), small round head with distinct white line in eyebrow (sharpy). I decided on a light colored male Sharp-shinned, with the only real deciding factor being the size; he was big enough to scatter the feeder birds, however. Scott Lexington, ky ================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBERS============= The BIRDKY Mailing List requires you to sign your messages with first & last name, city, & state abbreviation. -------------------------------------------------- To post to this mailing list, send e-mail to: birdky@xxxxxxxxxxxxx -------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, send e-mail to: birdky-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject line. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Visit the Kentucky Ornithological Society web site at http://www.biology.eku.edu/kos.htm * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BIRDKY List Manager: Gary Ritchison, Richmond, KY E-mail: gary.ritchison@xxxxxxx