Heard a lot of noise in my holly bush,then this Sparrow Hawk jumped out of it for a look-see

Nice spotlighting on the face!

That's not your average backyard bird

DRwyoming: Just started showing up this year We have 2 types of hawks in this area of Virginia

I like the lighting around his/her neck,

Beautiful shot of a Cooper's Hawk

I have been told both,I guess you are right about it being a Coopers hawk Maybe Steve will know

Woodym1, just on a bird-geek note, the Sparrow Hawk in the U.S. was renamed to American Kestrel, Chicken Hawk to Red-tailed Hawk, and Pigeon Hawk to Merlin... sounds to me like the birding bosses didn't like them named after their prey. Actually, I think it's even more confusing since many references to Sparrow Hawk are to accipiters like the Cooper's Hawk or Sharp-shinned Hawk (both eat small birds)... so you were correct depending on what country you live in and what the year of your bird guide is. Too much (confusing) info? Regardless, you got a beautiful photo of the bird. Here's a picture I got of a Sharp-shinned Hawk (a smaller cousin of the Cooper's Hawk) that was chasing an American Robin and they both hit a window of our house... the hawk was dazed and I was able to pick it up and place it in a safer location for it to recover (the robin wasn't so lucky).

@Woody & Karl:
Both photos are beautiful. You really nailed the eyes!

Had a coopers in my yard eating a little bird..... I scared him off at first, but he came back.

very very nice