Jul 31 2007
There’s a Northern Goshawk lurking in our neighborhood
Fisher cats get a bad rap in our neck of the woods because they have a reputation for their aggressive behavior. Members of the weasel family, they can grow to 47 inches, they feed on small herbivores and omnivores, they supposedly have a call that sounds like a child’s screem—which can be very unnerving when you hear it at night—and they have been known to attack and eat cats.
(This fisher cat found a tasty treat in a suet bird feeder.)
We thought a local fisher cat has been attacking some of the smaller mammals and birds in our neighborhood, but we have no proof other than a foggy dawn and a late evening sighting of what was probably a fox or coyote, and at least two neighbors hearing the tell-tale scream—which, according to some source, is not actually proven to be from a fisher cat.
But I have a different theory. I believe we have a Northern Goshawk that’s been visiting the neighborhood. To start, I actually saw the bird when it’s massive gray and white body alighted on the chain-link fence next to our house one morning as I was leaving for work. We have yet to clap our eyes on a fisher cat in our area. Second, it’s call or screech was recognized by Randye, who always seems to hear it early in the morning when I’m dead to the world, when she listened to it online. And finally, when I found two baby rabbits disemboweled in our front yard one Saturday morning, they were not dragged off like a kill by a fisher cat might have been.
The rabbits were a bit grisly in fact. One had been completely ripped in half with the back half nowhere to be seen and the front half was fully gutted. The other body was intact, but had a clean slice at the top of the head, as if it was scalped. There was a small hole in the top of the skull as if someone tried to give the animal a lobotomy, which could easily have been the work of a sharp beak from a bird of prey. The condition of the bodies was exactly like photographs I found on the ‘Net of the bird’s eating habits.
(An adult Northern Goshawk. Photo from MT.gov)
For more information on this bird of prey, check out Whatbird.com. You’ll even be able to listen to its call.
Aside from it ravaging the other critters here, I do hope to see it again. The Northern Goshawk is truly a magnificent bird.
2 responses so far
there is little doubt that that NG is living in your area. That bird could be roosting and or/nesting in your area. You should treat the bird as if it is a raptor; not as a passerine. To me: the real thrill is to see the bird at a far-off distance; then as the bird comes near your zenith; then as the bird is again seen – far away, departing from your view. Just about the only way to get those 3-looks is to get away from your feeder station, and get to an area approximately 1 mlie from your property, and then turn that area into a hawk watch. What I am talking about is strategies. There is nobody in the U.S. who knows more about NG (Northern Goshawk) migration, habitat, and distribution than what i know. And I know very little of NG.
Thanks, Nelson. We’ve been keeping an eye out for the goshawk since we saw it last. We do have many Red-Tailed Hawks in the area, but this was my first viewing of an NG. As we have lots of farmland in the area, we’ll hopefully be able to use the three-look strategy you mentioned.