[obol] Re: Goshawk/Accipiter ID

From: "Leith McKenzie" <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> (Redacted sender "loinneilceol" for DMARC)
To: Obol <obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 17 May 2016 21:06:58 +0000 (UTC)

My guess is that Mr Jenkins is not referring to either of the pictured birds in
Matt Hunter's original post.

Rather he is describing the image that I included in my response, which I
included for the purpose of showing what a Northern Goshawk tail looks like.
As I said, the second pictured bird in Matt's post is clearly not a Goshawk,
because the tail bands can be clearly seen, and there are no narrow white
stripes.

The thin white bands that border the wide dark bands make the bird a Northern
Goshawk; the other Northern American accipiter's tails lack this feature.  They
are more visible on the upper parts of the tail, but are definitely present.

Alan Jenkins

Creswell, OR

“Each of us is in truth an idea of the Great Gull and an unlimited idea of
freedom.”

Jonathan Livingston Seagull


----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Leith McKenzie <loinneilceol@xxxxxxxxx>
To: Obol <obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, May 16, 2016 9:16 PM
Subject: Re: Goshawk/Accipiter ID

IMO, the first pic cannot be identified beyond accipiter sp.
However the second pic is clearly not a Goshawk, because the tail bands can be
clearly seen, and there are no narrow white stripes.



“Each of us is in truth an idea of the Great Gull and an unlimited idea of
freedom.”

Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Hi Folks,

  I want to offer a general encouragement to be studious when identifying

Goshawks, particularly immatures and particularly in northwest Oregon (but

carefulness is advised any time and place and plumage!). AND a request to

make a particular effort to document (especially with photos), reports of

Northern Goshawks in the Willamette Valley west to the ocean.  This message

is not necessarily very timely, as most spring migrant reports come a bit

earlier in the year, but I wanted to put it out there anyway. I'm hoping

that over time we will be able to better document and assess the status of

the species, in NW Oregon in particular.

I came to the point of deciding to put this out there because I had been

curious for a few years about the "numerous" reports from the Willamette

Valley and westward. The reports just seemed a bit over the top compared to

my experience when I lived in the Willamette Valley from about 1981 to 2009

(I think I had something like zero goshawks during that time). Then, just a

few weeks ago, in late April, two days in a row I had an accipiter over our

place in west-central Douglas County (interface of Umpqua Valleys and

eastern Coast Range), that drew my concentration. I think what drew me were

the relatively slower wingbeats (though it was mostly soaring), the broad

body and broad tail, tail with slight bulge at end, and while for the most

part I could not clearly discern color underneath, at some angles it seemed

rather silvery/shiny. I wanted to see if perhaps it was a goshawk. Here is

one photo of the bird, on the second day.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/...

As I continued looking at it, though, the shape and width of the rear body

and tail would change, the wings seemed rather long and even, and in some

of my other photos, I'm pretty sure I see "reddish" color, not silvery

(I've seen these look silvery in reflected sky light before). I concluded

it was an adult Cooper's Hawk. In fact the first day there was a Cooper's

Hawk calling, and I assumed the bird I was watching was the one calling.

The width of the rear "body" can be changed by hawks as they fly around,

and adult "territorial" Cooper's often puff out these feathers, which are

white in better light---AND, they can either really compress all their tail

feathers practically into one feather width, or like with this bird, space

them out more broadly. Amazing what they can do with those feathers.

Anyway, this experience, two days in a row at our place, along with my

"wondering" and curiosity particularly about NW Oregon reports of Goshawks

led me to look into it a bit more....

"Ah," I said to myself, "I'll just look for reports with photos in eBird

for the Willamette Valley and west." So I looked. I found many reports, but

only ONE with photos. And, well, I don't think the photos are of a Goshawk.

See what you think:

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S17795966

It does look fairly heavily streaked (but also blurry and in shadow and

other accips can be heavily streaked), and somewhat stocky (variable and

hard to tell in a photo), but it has gleaming white undertail coverts, not

much differentiation between pp and ss (outer and inner wing), inner rects

with very broad and uniform dark bands (as in coops/sharpy), maybe some

eyestripe but nothing to yell about, and generally a darkish looking head.

I asked several others privately to give me their thoughts on this bird.

None replied except Dave Irons who said:

   "...It's a pretty obvious Cooper's Hawk in my opinion. Structurally, it

fits Cooper's to a "T." Further, the broad equal width tail bands also

seems to better fit Cooper's. Looking at flight shots of young goshawks,

the pale tail bands are consistently broader than the dark tail bands,

which is clearly not the case with Hannah's bird. The spotting/streaking

below is also most intense on the breast and upper belly then becomes very

sparse on the lower belly and vent (good for Cooper's), whereas the

spotting/streaking on young goshawks seems to extend more solidly down to

the lower belly. Overall, [this] bird just doesn't have the bulk I expect

to see on a Northern Goshawk...."

I looked at a couple dozen of the MANY non-photo reports in eBird for the

Willamette Valley and west. They run the spectrum from NO NOTES AT ALL

(many reports), to notes that don't distinguish the report from other

accipiters, to a very few well-described goshawks (these mostly adults).

Does anyone have any photos of a Northern Goshawk from Northwest Oregon;

from the Willamette Valley westward?

I want to encourage/request folks to try to photograph identified or

suspected Northern Goshawks in NW Oregon---and elsewhere; the more the

better.  I know that is a bit of a tall request, as many times the birds

are zipping by and you're lucky if you get your bins on them, but a fair

number of the reports are of birds soaring, so I'm hopeful someone will get

some photos in the future from NW Oregon.

I think it would help with more discussion of goshawk ID and help with

better documentation of the occurrence of the species.

Best,

Matt Hunter

West-central Douglas County

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References:
- [obol] Re: Goshawk/Accipiter ID
  - From: Leith McKenzie

[obol] Re: Goshawk/Accipiter ID

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