Male Goshawk, 24.iii.2017 |
Sitting out in the rain on an Apennine hillside, hunched up under a not quite waterproof cape was not exactly the scenario I'd imagined while struggling to endure the dull cold Cambridgeshire winter.
The steep track up was difficult in parts; slippery stones and glutinous mud where a tractor had recently been labouring up to a small patch of hillside cultivation. Grey cloud off the cold Ligurian Sea streamed over the mountains to the west, grey cloud crept up the valley from the Po plains to the east, and the very air seemed made of water, misting the landscape of leafless grey-brown woods (photo left). But the wind was gentle and the damp air was mild. Soon an occasional relaxed ke-ke-ke call, or quiet wee-oo wail, came up from the unseen valley woods in front of me to confirm the happy fact that at least one Goshawk was present near the old nest site.
From my notes
24 March 2017. Saw high accipiter, possible Goshawk, from stream crossing ca 11.30. 12.15 heard calls around white edge area. Ca. 13.00 k-k-k and wee-oo calls near site, then together from above and below site, ie. definitely 2 birds present. Soon two birds calling at same time, loud and fast, "weooweeoo", probable mating; then occasional k-k-k and wee-oo calls. More sporadic over next half hour.
13.25 couple more weeoo calls, louder, apparently higher in canopy and so suggesting imminent flight, then bird up from patch above nest site; fast direct powered flight downstream, just above treetops, passed near white edge watchpoint, then around uphill toward principal ridge above C., out of sight behind higher ground. Now 13.33.
14.25 Sparrowhawk across old landslip scar: instant impression small and fluttery, marked contrast to Goshawk just seen (adjective 'moth like' came to mind at the time but not an exact resemblance).
25 March 2017. 08.55 weeoo call heard near fork to white edge watchpoint. Continued uphill through scrub at base of landslip scar. More calling with some apparent changes in bird's position. Then 2 birds together, then bit quiet, then slight increase in frequency and volume, bird promptly up. Circled down valley just above trees, past white edge area then across valley and back upstream along opposite slope and then lost, apparently down among trees. 10.37 high raptor over, probable Peregrine? 11.00 2 x Common Buzzard around peak at top of valley. Occasional quiet k-k uphill from site. 11.40 Gos crossing lower valley apparently from area where earlier bird lost, Sparrowhawk following apparently encouraging Gos to keep moving, Gos gliding on as if unconcerned (very obviously larger, bigger mass of flared white undertail coverts).
I had been watching webcam images of the urban pair in Riga (Latvia) visiting their previous nest from early January, sometimes bringing twigs or rearranging those already present, and listening to mating events in March, apparently all on nearby trees, not on the nest itself (ie. off camera). The live stream is HERE, and an active message board is HERE. Four eggs have now been laid, between 24 March and 1st April. One salutary lesson from this webcam has been that adult birds can be at the nest, if only briefly, or in its immediate surroundings, from mid-winter onward whereas, in my ignorance, I had assumed from the lack of evidence at my few short winter visits that "my" nest area is usually deserted until spring.
Kenward, R. 2006. The Goshawk. T & A D Poyser, London. (reprinted 2007).
(Links referenced above were verified on 4 April 2017).
(Links referenced above were verified on 4 April 2017).
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