In North America, the Sharp-shinned Hawk is the smallest of the forest accipiters. Accipiters have short, rounded wings and a long, banded tail, allowing them to maneuver easily through dense forest canopy in pursuit of agile, smaller prey.

Sharp-shinned Hawks are one of the smallest hawks. They are 10 to 14 inches long, with a wingspan of 21 to 27 inches. They weigh only three to five ounces, with females weighing almost twice as much as males. Adult "sharpies" have a gray back (bluish -gray in males, brownish-gray in females) and reddish, horizontally-barred breast and belly. Immatures have dark brown backs and cream-colored breast and bellies with dark vertical streaking. Eye color in all accipiters changes with age. As an immature bird, the eye color of the Sharp-shinned Hawk is yellow. The color gradually progresses to orange, and eventually becomes dark red, usually in older adults.

Field identification of Sharp-shinned Hawks can be difficult, as they resemble the somewhat larger Cooper’s Hawk in relative size, color, and shape. However, in flight, sharpies have a less protruding head and a shorter tail with a squared formation at the end. Sharp-shins appear more buoyant but less stable in flight than other accipiters. Their wing beat is quick, deep strokes and a flapping motion at the "wrist."

Sharp-shinned Hawks nest throughout the United States and Canada in dense second growth forests. Sharp-shins do not always return to nest in the same territory each spring, but if they do, a new nest is built. Both members of the pair participate in constructing a stick nest in the crotch of a tree, or on a branch near the tree trunk. Four or five bluish-white eggs with brown speckling are laid in late May or June. Incubation duties are shared by the pair, and hatching occurs in 23 to 27 days. The male provides most of the food while the female defends the nestlings against predators.

Sharpies migrate south between early September and the end of October. They return north in April and May. When migrating, Sharp-shinned Hawks follow mountain ridgelines more closely than most other raptors. These are the most common hawks observed along most western flyways. In the Goshute Mountains of Nevada, they account for 31 percent of the total number of raptors observed, and 57 percent of the total trapped and banded.

Since they feed mainly on small birds, which in turn feed mostly on insects, Sharp-shin populations are valuable indicators of pesticide contamination and the overall health of forest ecosystems.