Accipiter striatus
Silhouette: Shyamal · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
The sharp-shinned hawk (Accipiter striatus) or northern sharp-shinned hawk, colloquially often nicknamed sharpie, is a small hawk, with males being the smallest hawks in the United States and Canada, but with the species averaging larger than some Neotropical species, such as the tiny hawk. The taxonomy is far from resolved, with some authorities considering the southern taxa to represent three separate species, white-breasted hawk (A. chionogaster), plain-breasted hawk (A. ventralis), and rufous-thighed hawk (A. erythronemius). The American Ornithological Society and some other checklists keep all four species conspecific. A recent genetic study additionally recommended splitting the three Caribbean island populations as three additional separate species, though this has not yet been adopted by any of the ornithological authorities.
The sharp-shinned hawk is sometimes separated into four species, with the northern group (see distribution) retaining both the scientific name and the common name sharp-shinned hawk (A. striatus). Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Salt Lake City | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | São Paulo | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 3 | Calgary | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 4 | Mexico City | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 5 | Sacramento | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Las Vegas | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Toronto | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 8 | Philadelphia | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | Curitiba | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 10 | Edmonton | 🇨🇦 Canada |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Birds of prey | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 2 | Carolina Raptor Center | 🇺🇸 United States |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Sharp-shinned Hawk sighting in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks on a given day, based on 63 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 107th most-seen of the 152 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
November and December
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Sharp-shinned Hawk in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks on a given day, against under 5% in January to October, the lowest months.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Sharp-shinned Hawk sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
28th of 70
Of the 70 parks where we can rate Sharp-shinned Hawk sightings, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks ranks 28th at under 5%. The best odds are in Point Pelee National Park (Canada, about 10%), Celaque National Park (Honduras, about 10%) and El Triunfo (Mexico, about 10%).
Same family: Accipitridae
The closest relatives of the Sharp-shinned Hawk that you can see in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks (family Accipitridae, Hawks, Eagles, and Kites) are Red-tailed Hawk (about 20%) and Red-shouldered Hawk (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Sharp-shinned Hawk is recorded against all the birds logged in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks (63 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
