A foraging male, a little less distant

Local Goshawk habitat: wooded hills & small meadows

Same time of the season but the following year, 17.vi.2013, late afternoon I was on the side of the valley opposite my 'white edge' watchpoint.

Looking over the valley from the watchpoint in the morning the sun is rising behind your back in the east.  It is better to be on the opposite side at the end of the day and looking back over the valley toward the morning watchpoint, because the sun will again be low behind your back.  Any birder will know the radical difference in appearance between a bird illuminated by direct low sunlight, and one reduced to a dark silhouette by strong backlight.

Choosing the appropriate slope certainly paid off that afternoon.  The depths of the wooded valley in front were darkening but most of the airspace above was still in full sun.  I had not heard any signs of activity around the Goshawk site, off to my right up the valley, when I caught sight of a hawk rising fast out of the woods, probably not much more than 100 metres away.  I was so surprised I just stood looking, transfixed by the hawk suddenly supercharging the quietening day with energy, and did not consciously tick off recognition points. But I knew it was a Goshawk, and before it headed decisively away up the valley toward the ridges and peaks above I managed to grab a few images.  Happily, although the hawk was as usual too distant, the low direct sun gave the images a bit of detail (instead of being just a distant grey blur).  See composite image below.

Adult male Goshawk, 17.vi.2013, N Apennines.  Heavy crops from Panasonic FZ45.

If viewing this illustration at larger size (left-click) the characteristic dark mask behind the eye is visible on a couple of images (eg. far left, 2nd from right); this dark patch appears more prominent because of the white supercilium separating it from the dark crown.  The step between broad secondaries and narrow hand is almost exaggerated in this individual.  Two typical tail shapes appear in the two images at right, the image 2nd from right shows a closed tail during powered flight, broad at the rump and tapering toward the rounded tip; the tail on image far right is open somewhat, perhaps preparatory to a turning manoeuvre. The image at far left shows the heavy body well, with maximum depth at the belly rather than the breast.  Also note the white undertail coverts, slightly flared here, shown in the image at 2nd left.

Adult male Goshawk (possibly the same individual as 2013), 10.vi.2014, N Appenines. 

I soon learnt to keep an attentive eye on the airspace over the lower stretch of this side valley during the breeding season, and while I could never count on it, I did see a male several times in recent years when the Goshawk nest was active (eg. above, 2014).  It seems he would tend to glide fast down the valley below the nest after leaving the site, sometimes at canopy level for some distance (or below?), before gaining a little height, often skimming the western slopes and then moving purposefully up along the ridge above toward the extensive woods surrounding the local peak.  Curiously, that day back in mid-June 2012 (mentioned in the previous post) remains the only time I have seen the male on his way toward the nest site rather than leaving after food delivery.  I'm convinced that when he brings prey to the nest area he must often approach at or below canopy level.