It was a Sharp-shinned Hawk.
General Description
The Sharp-shinned Hawk is the smallest of the three North American accipiters. The female is larger than the male. Adults have solid gray upperparts and barred, reddish-brown underparts. Their long, square tails have gray and black bars with very narrow, white tips. Their eyes are red. Immature birds are brown above with diffuse brown streaking below; they have yellow eyes. Sharp-shinned Hawks have short, rounded wings that are set slightly more forward on their bodies than those of the larger, but similar-looking, Cooper's Hawk. Their heads are also relatively smaller and their gray caps less distinct than the Cooper's. The white tip of the tail of the Cooper's Hawk is usually wider than that of Sharp-shinned Hawk, especially in the fall. All of these differences are subtle, making it quite difficult to distinguish a male Cooper's Hawk from a female Sharp-shinned Hawk.
Habitat
Sharp-shinned Hawks inhabit coniferous or mixed woodlands, avoiding open country. While Cooper's Hawks appear to prefer deciduous forests, Sharp-shinned Hawks appear to prefer coniferous forests. During winter, they are often found in woodlots, towns, and parks.
Conservation Status
Sharp-shinned Hawk numbers dropped in the mid-20th Century as a result of eggshell thinning due to DDT. They were also easy, convenient targets at hawk migration points. The banning of DDT and changing attitudes towards predators have enabled the Sharp-shinned Hawk to recover well, although new declines have been discovered in some areas in the past few decades. These declines may be due to a variety of factors, including environmental contaminants, reduced prey supply, and habitat changes. In Washington, Sharp-shinned Hawks are poorly sampled, as they are hard to find during the breeding season. Christmas Bird Count data reflect a slight increase in Washington, but sample sizes are small, and this may or many not reflect a true increase.
In January they are listed as uncommon throughout washington state. With exception of an area called the blue mountains were it is listed as Rare.
The site were I learned about what I heard:
http://www.birdweb.org/BIRDWEB/bird/sharp-shinned_hawk
Have you heard or seen any birds you could not identify. Have you researched them and learned somthing about them?
I guess this is a topic for that.
