In response to yesterday's post featuring our mystery juvenile hawk, the question came down to whether the bird was an immature goshawk or an immature Cooper's hawk. Both look extremely similar.
A goshawk, because of its rarity, seemed unlikely. Yet the markings didn't quite fit with a juvy Cooper's hawk. So ... I reached out to some experts.
I sent emails to a few regional universities and requested the assistance of some ornithology experts. I heard back from a Dr. Daniela Monk, Assistant Clinical Professor, School of Biological Sciences, at Washington State University in Pullman.
She wrote: "Yes, please send the pictures and I will try to help ID your bird. Juvenile Goshawks and juvenile Cooper’s Hawks are very similar and often difficult to distinguish. That said, Goshawk juveniles usually have a lighter line above the eye, they also have barring on the tail that is more wavy. Goshawks are not often seen, but they do occur in your area. In addition, juvenile birds do venture into areas where adults might not go."
I replied: "It was the white line above the eye that made me lean toward a juvy goshawk." – and I sent her the photos I posted on the blog.
She replied: "Beautiful photos, thank you for sharing them. I think you are correct in thinking your bird is a juvenile Goshawk. I have attached two slides that describe the difference in tail patterning of juvenile Cooper’s versus Goshawk (the pictures on the slides are from an e-course on raptors by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology). Your bird clearly shows the jagged dark markings on the tail that are characteristic of juvenile Goshawks. Wishing you many more happy bird encounters."
Here are the slides she sent:
Now here's the photo of my bird's tail.
Not only are the dark tail bands jagged, but (if you look closely or enlarge the photo) they're outlined in white.
On juvy Cooper's hawks, the tail bars are straight and do not have the thin white outline.
Below is the juvy goshawk tail:
Here's a close-up of my bird's tail:
Mystery solved: It's a goshawk! What a thrill to have such a rare bird chasing quail off our back deck ... although I doubt the quail care what kind of hawk is trying to eat them.
This learning/teaching moment brought to us by the excellent photography skills of our author. Our naked eyes would probably never see all the differences without pictures.
ReplyDeleteFor such a rare bird to be there speaks well of where your new home is !
Does having all these hawks make you worry about chickens? I have recently gotten 5 chickens, no rooster, and am concerned about letting them free range for all of the hawks we have in the area. Their pen is quite sturdy, but not as large as I would like for them.
ReplyDeleteWe won't know until we get chickens. However our neighbor has chickens in an open-topped enclosure, and to the best of my knowledge has never lost one to a hawk. She keeps banties, too, so they're small chickens. However if we start losing chickens to hawks, we'll add protection from the top.
Delete- Patrice
I tried to post from my phone yesterad, but it didn't go through.
ReplyDeleteI too thought the Goshawk was the best guess. As far as bird 'ranges' I have thrown those out the window! Last year we had a male Blue Grosbeak that showed up in the spring and stayed the entire summer. I never saw more than one but cannot imagine he would hang around all summer without a mate. The most beautiful song and such stunning color! Also, "too far" north. In 2006 we had a nesting pair of Scissors Tailed Fly Catchers near our small stock dam. I later learned that was the 7th reported siting and only the 3rd photographed in the state. The latter is the state bird of Oklahoma. Ours were nesting less than 200 miles south of Canada! Natokadn
Boy, that was so close to my Coopers hawk..
ReplyDeleteIf I recall, the bird which becomes a hunter for and companion to the teen boy in "My Side of the Mountain" (a book I have re-read numerous times) was a Goshawk.
ReplyDeleteNope, it was a Peregrine falcon. I had that book practically MEMORIZED as a kid.
Delete- Patrice