Goshawk Season

 

Did a reccy with Rich ahead of our season of Goshawk Tours, which start soon. 

It was an icy start, with Crossbills, whose calls were the soundtrack of the day, eating snow at the side of the track. I have not seen them do this before, but I realise they need to keep hydrated and in the freezing weather, they haven't got a lot of choice. Siskins buzzed around and I soon picked up our first Gos, an adult female, perched in a tree across the valley, long white body gleaming like a beacon in the winter sun. She flew up into a pine higher up the ridge, scattering Woodpigeons like confetti, that blew across the hillside. After a bit, she melted away into the forest. Shortly, an immature male came along the ridge and gave us a great flypast, as it headed east. Later, we checked out a couple of new sites; still plenty of Crossbills and a handful of more Gos sightings: another immature male and also an adult male, which flew right overhead, eyeballing us. A female called harshly, unseen in the adjacent forest, so it seems we'd located a territory. As we walked back, we flushed an immature of the ground, which had been perched on some forestry brash. It melted away through the Larch. If only we'd seen it before it flew! A fantastic, magical day with these incredible birds. 

Top pic: Immature (second calendar-year) male Goshawk; lower two, adult male Goshawk.

Bottom three pics - the same immature as above, by Richard Baines - Yorkshire Coast Nature.