[cayugabirds-l] Goshawk

[David McDermitt]

Hi all,

I'm pretty confident I just saw an adult Goshawk up close feeding on the
side of the road as I drove by. This was at Lower Buttermilk park starting
up Sandbank road. As I came out of the curve, on the park side of the
guardrail, a somewhat bulky raptor was turned sideways to me and turned its
head to look at my car. Its side was sheer and uniformly light gray. The
only other time I've seen a raptor that color was in a Harrier but the
other features of a Harrier weren't there.

You just never know when those 'wow' moments will show up.

Dave

--

(copy & paste any URL below, then modify any text "_DOT_" to a period ".")

Cayugabirds-L List Info:
NortheastBirding_DOT_com/CayugabirdsWELCOME_DOT_htm
NortheastBirding_DOT_com/CayugabirdsRULES_DOT_htm
NortheastBirding_DOT_com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave_DOT_htm

ARCHIVES:
1) mail-archive_DOT_com/cayugabirds-l@cornell_DOT_edu/maillist_DOT_html
2) surfbirds_DOT_com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds
3) aba_DOT_org/birding-news/

Please submit your observations to eBird:
ebird_DOT_org/content/ebird/

--

[cayugabirds-l] Goshawk

[Tim Gallagher]

I just heard that the Cornell Raptor Program lost a goshawk yesterday from 
their facility on Game Farm Road, Ithaca. If anyone sees the bird, please 
contact Heather Jay Huson at 907-388-4485.

--

Cayugabirds-L List Info:
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm

ARCHIVES:
1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html
2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds
3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html

Please submit your observations to eBird:
http://ebird.org/content/ebird/

--

[cayugabirds-l] Goshawk in Covert, southeast Seneca County

[Dave Nutter]

Ann Mitchell & I spent most of today birding on the west side of Cayuga Lake 
where we thought there would be less wind. There was  still snow in the air and 
heat shimmer over the water, so visibility was limited, and we have no new or 
unusual waterbirds to report. The ice edge in the north is inconveniently by 
Canoga Marsh where I think there is no public road access. The best waterbird 
spot we found was in the southwest corner of the lake, in dear old Ithaca, the 
only place we encountered large numbers of anything but Canada Geese, although 
there was some variety spread around the lake. 

On our way inland to check various feeders, we were surprised at a brief 
encounter with a large gray raptor which we identified as a NORTHERN GOSHAWK. 
Here's my description from eBird:

"Shortly after we turned west from NYS-89 onto E Covert Rd we saw a large 
raptor perched in profile fairly high in a medium-sized tree along the north 
side of the road. We stopped before we got to it, but it immediately flew south 
across the road in front of us, continuing high among the mature conifers on 
the south side of the road and quickly out of sight. Our view was brief and we 
did not get binoculars on it. Perched, viewed against a dark background of 
other trees, it appeared generally gray (no brown), darker above, but with 
extensive bold white undertail coverts in a long triangle. The silhouette was 
wrong for the very familiar Red-tailed Hawk. This bird was more vertical, 
cylindrical and big-headed. Flying, it was somewhat Buteo-like, having broad 
wings, but it also had a tail too long compared to a Red-tailed Hawk, which 
made it seem Accipiter-like, but not as long as Sharp-shinned or Cooper's Hawk. 
The tail was only seen from above and was dark with no white markings, it was 
even in length, not graduated or bulging out at the end like a Cooper's 
Hawk.There were no bold markings above or below the wings that I saw, although 
there was little opportunity to view. It appeared very clean-edged in outline 
(not scruffy like Red-tailed) and flew level and fast with strong wingbeats, 
but not rapid flutters like a smaller Accipiter. The body was much more stocky 
than Cooper's (another familar bird), and the wings were also too broad front 
to back for Cooper's. Sharp-shinned would be far too tiny. It was neither 
narrow-winged, nor slim-bodied, nor as long-tailed as Northern Harrier (also 
very familiar, with several seen today) for which this is the wrong habitat. It 
lacked the broad, bold belly band of a Rough-legged Hawk and lacked bold 
markings on the upper tail, as well as being in the wrong habitat and having 
the wrong perching style - not on twigs at tip of tree. Too large for 
Broad-winged Hawk. Neither streaked brown nor reddish/pinkish below, pointing 
against Broad-winged, Red-shouldered, and other Accipiters. I have only seen a 
few Northern Goshawks, and this was not a great view. For instance, I did not 
see the head markings. However, its shape both perched and in flight, size, 
basic pattern (prominent undertail coverts but no other bold marks), color 
(gray, no obvious brown nor red on perched bird), behavior (fleeing immediately 
with strong flight), and habitat (woodland with many conifers) all point to 
adult Northern Goshawk. We did not refind it although we looked south into 
trees from the car, then turned left at the first opportunity and looked east 
from that road. FOY, first 2016 CLB record."

I neglected to mention that the wings were not at all pointed. This was not a 
Gyrfalcon. You would have heard about that sooner!

At the time I had forgotten that Northern Goshawk had not been reported yet for 
the basin, and it didn't seem very chase-able, having disappeared on us so 
quickly, so we neglected to report it to the listserv or the rare bird alert. 
Back home in the evening I discovered that Northern Goshawk wasn't even on 
eBird's rare bird list for that area. I had to add it. So, it's rarer than I 
realized. I thought it was just me not finding the species some years. Anyway, 
sorry for not reporting it immediately. 

We looked for the Snowy Owl on Seybolt Road on our way north and south, but did 
not find it. Maybe it's gone, or maybe we're just not lucky, and it likes to 
hide. One bird we did successfully seek was a RING-NECKED PHEASANT along Farron 
Road in the vicinity of the Finglerlakes Regional Airport south of Seneca 
Falls. Not only was this a gorgeous male bird with his long tail fluttering in 
the wind, but he wasn't alongside the game farm, so he seemed more wild. It's 
possible he grew up in the game farm, but we've seen pheasants in this area 
last year and this past fall, so maybe they breed there. Or maybe someone 
releases them there every year.
--Dave Nutter


--

Cayugabirds-L List Info:
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.h

[cayugabirds-l] Goshawk!

[Geo Kloppel]

I was sitting at home with a cup of tea just now, gazing across the upper 
Cayuga Inlet valley toward sunlit Thatcher's Pinnacles, enjoying the thought 
that in seven  or eight weeks this will all look so different, and the 
Worm-eating Warblers will be back. 

Suddenly a large whitish bird flew from the spruces to land in a small tree 
some 300' downslope from me, looking up toward my bird feeders (and me). I 
grabbed my bins, and wow! It was an immature Northern Goshawk. Seen perched in 
this very familiar yard tree, "she" was very large for an accipiter, with a 
striking white supercillium, and a long accipitrine tail marked with uneven 
"zig-zag" bands.

About a month ago I glimpsed what may have been the same bird. We were having a 
good hard-blown snow squall when it emerged from those same spruces and powered 
up through the yard and over the house, leaving me to wonder: "Was that a 
Goshawk?!"

-Geo 
--

Cayugabirds-L List Info:
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm

ARCHIVES:
1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html
2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds
3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html

Please submit your observations to eBird:
http://ebird.org/content/ebird/

--

[cayugabirds-l] Goshawk not there Thursday

[Donna Scott]

I seem to have inadvertently started off all the discussion of possible Goshawk 
disturbance by simply inquiring as to where Foster pond is! (I am not that 
familiar w the FL National Forest).

After Josh S. kindly answered me on this bird list with a message similar to 
messages many of us have seen here a lot, with directions to where Foster Pond 
is & the general area where he saw a N. Goshawk, Becky H. & I took a ride over 
to the forest and walked in that area. 

No Goshawk seen after lots of looking. 

 but we had a nice wintry hike & saw a gorgeous sunset over Seneca Lake. Saw 
more domestic mammals traveling there, than birds!

Sent from my iPhone
Donna Scott

On Jan 16, 2015, at 3:30 PM, Scott Haber  wrote:

> John C.,
> 
> I'm still trying to figure out how we "know" Goshawks to be adverse to human 
> disturbance. Anecdotal evidence is nice, as is your research on Golden-winged 
> Warblers, but actual cited research on Northern Goshawks reports the 
> following:
> 
> "Disturbances associated with research are usually of short duration, 
> apparently having little impact on nesting birds. Viewing nests for short 
> periods after young have hatched does not cause desertion. Trapping adults 
> during nesting for banding or attaching transmitters apparently does not 
> cause abandonment. The percentage of nesting pairs with radios that 
> successfully raised young (83%, n = 8, 1988–1989) was similar to those 
> without radios (82%, n = 10, 1987–1990; Austin 1993). Timbering activities 
> near nests can cause failure, especially during incubation (Anonymous 1989, 
> Boal and Mannan 1994). Logging activities, such as loading and skidding, 
> within 50–100 m of nest can cause abandonment, even with 20-d-old nestlings 
> present (JRS). However, see Zirrer (1947) for descriptions of repeated 
> renesting attempts despite extreme disturbance.
> 
> My takeaway from that is that unless someone starts logging/timbering at 
> Foster Pond, I think Josh's goshawk will be fine, even if a few folks decide 
> to go take a look for it. This is not a situation comparable to something 
> like a roosting owl's location being posted, since there's no evidence at all 
> that the goshawk will even remain at this exact location any longer than the 
> single day on which Josh observed it. According to more research cited in the 
> BNA account, the earliest-ever recorded date of this species being paired up 
> and on territory is late February, and mid-March to early April is much more 
> common.
> 
> Exercising caution for the sake of leaving rare or poorly-known birds 
> undisturbed is one thing, but I think it's also worth not immediately rushing 
> to chastise and scold new contributors for their sightings, without any 
> legitimate evidence that their reports will have any negative impact on said 
> birds.
> 
> -Scott
> 
> On Fri, Jan 16, 2015 at 2:54 PM, John Confer  wrote:
>> I'm just suggesting that an overdoes of caution for the sake of a
>> species that is known to be adverse to human disturbance is worth
>> considering. The evidence for goshawk nest abandonment that I know about
>> is limited but real.  I doubt that at this time of year that there would
>> be any impact on reproductive success, but a visit in ~April-May might
>> have an impact.
>> 
>> 40 years ago Dorothy McIlroy described to me one goshawk nest that was
>> abandoned while the birds were on eggs and 30 years ago John Snelling, a
>> former grad student of Tom Cade, with a strong interest in raptors, also
>> described such an instance. John Gregoire, below, added another
>> instance(s). This doesn't approach the sample size for a publication.
>> There is data for golden-wings that the number fledged per nest is lower
>> for renests, but that comes from pooling nearly a dozen major studies of
>> GWWA reproductive success, including a half-dozen PhDs, and is
>> detectable only with a sample size of on the order of 500 nests. This
>> won't happen for goshawk. So what we have is anecdotal.
>> 
>> Since my information on goshawk is old and very personal and not
>> generally known among the public,  I wanted to make the gentle
>> suggestion that for birds swuch as ravens and goshawk or similar birds
>> with individual pairs that can be adversely affected by human presence
>> that the location of (potential) territories and/or nests is probably
>> not a good thing to share. It is interesting that within a species there
>> may be pairs that are acclimated to human presence and pairs that don';t
>> often contact humans and may "over-react' to human intrusion. This the
>> consequence of visiting a nest or entering a territory is unpredictable.
>> 
>> Cheers,
>> 
>> John
>> 
>> On 1/16/2015 2:17 PM, Anne Clark wrote:
>> > Hopefully this is not taking this outside the interest of many on the list 
>> > but:
>> >
>> > I am curious to know the evidence on reduced nesting success in goshawks, 
>> > in part because it is really important to know what such evidence 

Fw: [cayugabirds-l] Goshawk footage

[Dave Gislason]

  On Sunday, August 31, 2014 6:31 PM, Candace Cornell  
wrote:
   

 A wonderful clip of s Goshawk flying between trees.
pic.twitter.com/sqNVxl6tsx

Candace-- Cayugabirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics Rules and Information 
Subscribe, Configuration and Leave Archives: The Mail Archive Surfbirds 
BirdingOnThe.Net Please submit your observations to eBird! --


--

Cayugabirds-L List Info:
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm

ARCHIVES:
1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html
2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds
3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html

Please submit your observations to eBird:
http://ebird.org/content/ebird/

--

[cayugabirds-l] Goshawk footage

[Candace Cornell]

A wonderful clip of s Goshawk flying between trees.

pic.twitter.com/sqNVxl6tsx 

Candace

--

Cayugabirds-L List Info:
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm

ARCHIVES:
1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html
2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds
3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html

Please submit your observations to eBird:
http://ebird.org/content/ebird/

--

[cayugabirds-l] Goshawk??

[Caroline Manring]

I was just walking on Hopkins road near the Medical Center and a large
raptor went over south to north, leaving a large stand of trees to head for
another, bigger one across a field. I had no binoculars, and it was fairly
far off (at least 300 yards at its closest)
--It appeared very dark (the uncensored thought was "almost black!") on top
and light underneath (no discernable belly-band)
--the flight seemed accipiter-like to me (what I noticed most prominently
being the apparently perfectly flat configuration of wings between flaps--
no dihedral whatsoever)
--the flight pattern was three or four quick flaps to a fairly long (2-3x
as long as it took to make the flaps), very straight, pretty fast,
purposeful soar
--the bird "read" as an accipiter but its tail seemed proportionally short
compared to a Cooper's or a Harrier
--I could detect no white rump patch
--I did *think* I noticed something striking about the head coloration (a
vague wisp of the thought "why is an Osprey coming out of a woods-edge?"
occurred before I got a look at the shape and flight pattern)
--As it made off without my permission, the last two thoughts I had on its
size and shape were that it seemed much like "either the biggest Cooper's
Hawk of all time or the smallest Bald Eagle"

Is it possible this bird was a Northern Goshawk? Could someone who has NOGO
experience tell me if these impressions sound familiar? There's not much in
Sibley or any of the other books I have about the flight pattern, and I've
never seen one in flight.

My other thought was maybe I saw a Rough-legged Hawk, which could account
for the size and the high contrast in colors above and below, but I simply
didn't get the impression of a buteo at all.

Thanks,
Caroline Manring
NW Ithaca

--

Cayugabirds-L List Info:
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm

ARCHIVES:
1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html
2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds
3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html

Please submit your observations to eBird:
http://ebird.org/content/ebird/

--

[cayugabirds-l] Goshawk

[wrevans]

Greetings birders,


This morning a muscular juvenile Goshawk with a full crop flew low over 
"Jennings Pond" (Danby) and passed over Bald Hill Rd. within 150-ft of my 
daughter and me while we were sitting quietly watching the pond. When I 
first saw the large bird approaching head on from across the pond initial 
impression was American Bittern!



Bill E


--

Cayugabirds-L List Info:
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES

ARCHIVES:
1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html
2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html
3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds

Please submit your observations to eBird:
http://ebird.org/content/ebird/

--

[cayugabirds-l] Goshawk, mink-muskrat encounter

[Susan Fast]

I started the morning by walking the Baldwin Preserve on Irish Settlement
Rd.  Going east from the parking lot, on the main trail, I noted that about
90% of the bird singing was coming from the scraggy property just to the
north.  The FLLT "managed" property was almost silent.  I finally heard a
HERMIT THRUSH, and later near 6-Mile Creek heard a voluble WINTER WREN and a
distant LA. WATERTHRUSH.

 

I then spent about an hour watching over a wetland near Hammond Hill SF.  I
heard one call from a VIRGINIA RAIL, and had a pair of WOOD DUCKS swimming
about in an abandoned beaver pond there.  The highlight was noting a MINK
coming to the bank with what looked like a meadow vole, swimming to a small
island, and disappearing for 15 minutes.  Meanwhile a MUSKRAT swam in and
began patrolling the island edges.  I was beginning to be concerned for the
muskrat as the mink appeared again, but not to worry.  Muskrat took out
after the mink and chased it down the pond edge.  Mink gone, muskrat
continued its patrol.  Ten minutes later, the mink suddenly erupted from the
water, running across a raft of old beaver branches with the muskrat in hot
pursuit, teeth clicking.

 

On my way back to the road, I saw a NORTHERN GOSHAWK spiraling slowly
overhead doing the "tail-flagging" display, a courtship display where the
feathers at the base of the tail are puffed out showing two broad white
patches on either side of the bird's fuselage.

 

Steve Fast

Brooktondale

 

 


--

Cayugabirds-L List Info:
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES

ARCHIVES:
1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html
2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html
3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds

Please submit your observations to eBird:
http://ebird.org/content/ebird/

--

[cayugabirds-l] Goshawk?

[Tim Gallagher]

John Parks in Animal Science (director of the Cornell Raptor Program) 
asked me to put this message on the list-serv. He lost an adult 
female Goshawk several days ago near Turkey Hill Road. John is out of 
town for a few days, and i said I'd monitor any sighting reports and 
try to recover the bird for him.


If anyone sees an adult goshawk, please contact me at this e-mail 
address or leave a message on my work phone, below.


Thanks,
--
Tim Gallagher
Editor-in-Chief
LIVING BIRD
Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology
159 Sapsucker Woods Road
Ithaca, New York 14850
(607) 254-2443
FAX: (607) 254-2415
e-mail: t...@cornell.edu

--

Cayugabirds-L List Info:
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES

Archives:
1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html
2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html

Please submit your observations to eBird:
http://ebird.org/content/ebird/

--