Northern Goshawk

Accipiter gentilis

Order FALCONIFORMES - Family ACCIPITRIDAE - Subfamily Accipitrinae

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1. Cool Facts
2. Description
3. Similar Species
4. Sound
5. Range
6. Habitat
7. Food
8. Behavior
9. Reproduction
10. Conservation Status
11. Other Names

A powerful raptor of northern forests, the Northern Goshawk is the largest North American accipiter. It maneuvers through dense woods, taking prey as small as squirrels and as large as grouse, crows, and snowshoe hare.

Cool 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.
• The Northern Goshawk can be very persistent in pursuing prey. One goshawk was seen pursuing a snowshoe hare for 45 to 60 minutes along a hedgerow until finally the hare ran into a clearing and was seized. A goshawk may also chase poultry into buildings.

• Attila the Hun wore an image of a Northern Goshawk on his helmet.

• The Northern Goshawk is found across northern America and Eurasia. Most of the Eurasian races have much more dark barring on the chest than the American form, but about half of all Siberian goshawks are nearly white.

• 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.

Description

• Size: 53-64 cm (21-25 in)
• Wingspan: 103-117 cm (41-46 in)
• Weight: 631-1364 g (22.27-48.15 ounces)

• Large hawk.
• Long tail.
• Broad, rounded wings.
• Dark cap and stripe through eye.
• White eyebrow stripe.
• Gray belly.
• Blue-gray back.

• Heavy body.
• Wings appear short.
• Gray chest finely barred.
• Tail dark gray above and indistinctly barred.
• Long fluffy white feathers under tail.
• Eyes red.
• Legs yellow.
• Bill blackish with yellow cere and gape.

Sex Differences

Sexes similar; female larger, with browner upperparts and coarser markings below.

Immature

Brown above and heavily streaked below. Back with some white or cinnamon streaks and white spots. Tail dark brown with jagged dark bars. Underparts whitish with broad dark brown streaks. Pale eyebrow stripe usually visible on brown head. Eyes yellow.

Similar Species

• Cooper's Hawk is smaller and lacks a distinct eyebrow stripe. Adult Cooper's with reddish chest. Juvenile Cooper's tail evenly barred.
• Gyrfalcon has more direct flight and slower wingbeats, longer and more pointed wings, and two-toned wing pattern with light flight feathers contrasting with darker wing linings.

Sound

Mostly silent. Sometimes issues a plaintive wail or, when alarmed, an agitated series of brief, high syllables.

»listen to songs of this species

Range

Summer Range

Breeds from Alaska throughout most of Canada to New England, the northern Great Lakes region, and the Rockies, Cascades, and Sierra Nevada. Also breeds in the Mexican highlands and throughout much of northern Europe and Asia as far south as Iran in mountainous areas.

Winter Range

Found throughout most of its breeding range in winter. Some Northern Goshawks migrate as far south as Maryland, northern Ohio, and the plains east of the Rockies from the Dakotas to New Mexico.

Habitat

Various forest types, especially mature forest.

Food

Large birds, squirrels, rabbits, and hares.

Behavior

Foraging

Perches silently, waiting and watching for prey. Switches perches after brief periods. Descends on prey rapidly, maneuvering through forest vegetation or willingly crashing through it.

Reproduction

Nest Type

A large bowl of thin sticks lined with bark and greenery, placed in large tree.

Egg Description

Bluish white.

Clutch Size

Usually 2-4 eggs. Range: 1-5.

Condition at Hatching

Covered in white down and able to move around in nest.

Conservation Status

Apparently not as vulnerable as other raptor species to eggshell thinning from pesticides. Timber harvesting leads to some destruction of nests. The Northern Goshawk occurs even in fragmented forests, but perhaps less consistently than in large contiguous forest areas. Appears to be increasing slightly in the East.

Other Names

Autour des palombes (French)
Gavilán azor (Spanish)
Goshawk (English)

Sources used to construct this page:

Squires, John R., and Richard T. Reynolds. 1997. Northern Goshawk (Accipiter gentilis). In The Birds of North America, No. 298 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, PA, and the American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C.