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The Sharp-shinned Hawk, Accipiter striatus, is a small hawkThe term hawk refers to birds of prey in any of three senses: Strictly, to mean any of the species in the genera Accipiter Micronisus Melierax Urotriorchis and Megatriorchis''. The widespread Accipiter genus includes goshawks, sparrowhawks, the Sharp-shin.

Adults have short broad wings and a long square-ended tail with dark bands. They have a dark cap, blue-grey upperparts and white underparts with red bars. They have red eyes and yellow legs. Adult females are slightly larger.

Their breeding habitat is forested areas across most of North AmericaNorth America is the third largest continent in area and the fourth ranked in population. It is bounded on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the south by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific Ocea and parts of Central AmericaCentral America is the region of North America located between the southern border of Mexico and the northwest border of Colombia, in South America. Some geographers classify Central America as a large isthmus, and in this geographic sense it sometimes in, although they are more common in the boreal forest. They build a stick nest in a large conifer or dense group of deciduousDeciduous means "temporary" or "tending to fall off". Deciduous plants are those that lose their foliage for part of the year. In most cases, the foliage loss coincides with the incidence of winter in temperate or polar climates, but some plants lose thei trees.

In some parts of the United StatesThe United States of America also referred to as the United States U. America ¹ or the States is a federal republic in central North America, stretching from the Atlantic in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west. It shares land borders with Canada in, they are permanent residents. Northern birds migrateLong-distance land bird migration Many species of land birds migrate very long distances, the most common pattern being for birds to breed in the temperate or arctic northern hemisphere and winter in warmer regions, often in the tropics or the southern he to the southern U.S. and south to South America.

These birds surprise and capture small birds from cover or while flying quickly through dense vegetation. They often pluck the feathers off their prey on a post or other perch. They also eat rodents, lizards, frogs, snakes and large insects.

This bird declined in numbers in the 1960s and 1970s, probably as a result of the use of DDT and other pesticides; with the ban on their use across most of its breeding range, their population has rebounded.