Juvenile Cooper's Hawk taken by Leslie McCulloch in California and shows the finer streaking on the breast of the Cooper's compared to the Sharp-shinned Hawk. On a juvenile Cooper's the thin streaks on the breast end in a droplet. Sharpies tend to have heavier, denser, almost diamond shaped spotting. Sharpies show the classic broad, rusty brown streaks well down on the belly and flanks. Juvenile Cooper's Hawks have thin, clean streaks on the upper breast, that become thinner yet lower on the belly. On juveniles, look at the breast streaking first, and seperating these two species becomes easier. Also pale nape, forward eye placement, streaking getting progressively thinner down the belly to nearly unmarked undertail coverts, and extremely long tail. Also square head sometimes described as axe like. When a Sharp-shin spreads the tail, it is very rounded, indeed, in absolute terms, even though not as rounded as a fully spread Cooper’s tail. When a tail is fully grown, the difference is that the outer tail feathers of the Cooper’s Hawk’s tail are relatively shorter than the middle feathers, giving a rounded look, while the outer tail feathers of the Sharp-shin are closer to (although still a tad shorter than) the length of the middle feathers, usually imparting a distinctly square-tipped tail. The difference is really distinctive if the birds are flying overhead with tails just slightly spread.