Northern Goshawk

Accipiter gentilisOrder: FALCONIFORMESFamily: Kites, Eagles and Hawks (Accipitridae)

General

Northern Goshawk: Large hawk with slate blue-gray to nearly black upperparts and very finely barred and streaked pale gray underparts. Head is dark with thick, white eyebrows and red eyes. Tail is paler gray with three or four dark bands. Sexes are similar, although female is usually larger. Juvenile is browner overall with bright yellow eyes.

Range and Habitat

Northern Goshawk: Found in much of the northern hemisphere, from near the timber line in the north to as far south as sub-tropical regions; northern birds migrate during winter. Preferred habitats include dense coniferous and deciduous forests.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"ca-ca-ca"

Interesting Facts

The Northern Goshawk is well known for its fierce defense of its nest. It commonly attacks people and other animals that approach the nest too closely.

Attila the Hun wore an image of this bird on his helmet.

The name "goshawk" comes from the Old English words gos, meaning goose, and hafoc meaning hawk. It is pronounced as if the words are still separate, without any "sh" sound.

A group of goshawks has many collective nouns, including a "couple and a half", "flight", "glare", and "gross" of goshawks.

Author

Gary Owen Dick

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Northern Goshawk

Northern Goshawk: Large hawk with slate blue-gray to nearly black upperparts and very finely barred and streaked pale gray underparts. Head is dark with thick, white eyebrows and red eyes. Tail is paler gray with three or four dark bands. Alternates rapid wing beats with glides, soars on thermals.

● Song: "ca-ca-ca"

● Foraging & Feeding: Northern Goshawk: Eats birds, mammals, reptiles, and invertebrates: takes relatively large prey, weighing up to one-half as much as itself.

● Breeding & nesting: Northern Goshawk: Three or four brown spotted, white to blue eggs are laid in a nest made of dead twigs, lined with leafy green twigs, conifer needles, and pieces of bark, and built in a large tree. Incubation ranges from 36 to 41 days and is carried out by the female.

● Similar species: Northern Goshawk: Juvenile Cooper's Hawk is much smaller with longer tail and less distinctly streaked underparts. Sharp-shinned Hawk is much smaller, with shorter, squared-off tail, and shorter head-neck profile that does not project as far when flying.

Flight Pattern

Soars on thermals.

● Range & Habitat: Northern Goshawk: Found in much of the northern hemisphere, from near the timber line in the north to as far south as sub-tropical regions; northern birds migrate during winter. Preferred habitats include dense coniferous and deciduous forests.

^BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester

^PopulationUncommon to rare

^MigrationMigratory

^Weight32 Ounces

Field Guide to Birds of North America