On 12/13/14, I found an immature NORTHERN GOSHAWK at Liberty State Park (just across the Hudson in Jersey City), while scouting for the Lower Hudson CBC. My last conclusive sighting of the bird was during our Hudson County Big Day on 5/9/15. It flushed from an upland field with a bulging crop and flew into the woods.
However, on 5/30/15 I observed a bird that I slashed as a Cooper's Hawk/Northern Goshawk. Here are my notes from eBird: "I was unable to gain a full appreciation of this bird's size, although it was certainly a large-ish, long-tailed accipiter. I first spotted it soaring fairly low, over the intersection of Freedom Way & Morris Pesin. It wound up heading over Liberty National, which fits within the overwintering Goshawk's pattern. The bird was molting and the wingbeat cadence, deep and rapid, with virtually no gliding was quite perplexing. Goshawk has a deep wingbeat but both species glide often and do not normally flap as fast as this bird did. The molt obviously affected the flight style. I'm really interested to know if the young Gos is summering after the 5/9 sighting but I was too mystified by the flight style, to check carefully for all relevant fields marks. Cooper's Hawk has nested in recent years. A young Coop passing through is not out of the question but neither is Gos is considering the 5/9 sighting." It will interesting to see how long the Brooklyn bird stays... Mike Britt Bayonne, NJ -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
