Keeping in touch with the male Goshawk

Adult male Goshawk, 3.vi.2018, N Apennines.
Bulky body, broad hips, narrowed long hand, rounded tail end,
and bulky white undertail coverts (partly flared)

After the incredible Goshawk encounter back on the 3rd June, as outlined in the previous post, it seems increasingly unlikely to have any competition as Goshawk 'highlight of the year'.  I've been revisiting the half dozen best images quite often since!  But If later sightings have been brief and of more distant Goshawks, I am not complaining because I did not expect to see any at all in the valley this year after the apparent (but not absolutely certain) failure of breeding after its initial stages last year and the absence of any signs of breeding at the usual nest site this spring.

In my previous experience, the calls and flight behaviour associated with breeding seemed to provide the only realistic opportunity to contact Goshawk (here, either the provisioning male or the newly fledged juveniles in flight), even if such contact is irregular and unreliable.  However, I have now seen what I think is the local male Goshawk several times, but I don't know if he is breeding or not.

I have been back to the 'white scar' watchpoint several times since the 3rd but observation time has been severely limited by adverse weather at the start: frequent total cloud cover with rain falling or  thunderstorms imminent.  The past several days (writing on 22 June) have seen a return to more typical conditions with extended sunny and warm conditions (and still risk of afternoon thunderstorms).

The 'white scar' is an old landslip area in the chaotically faulted and unstable limestone and shale bedrock of the valley, steep and stony, with tumbled blocks the size of a car fragmenting into flakes the size of a 5 euro coin.  It is still relatively open but is reverting to woodland.  High up on one of the wooded slopes bordering the Goshawk valley, it gives a good view across the valley where the nest tree is located (the site itself  is not visible, hidden in the deepest part of the valley) and of the airspace above the next valley beyond.

An adult male around the old nest site

Adult male Goshawk, 3.vi.2018.

Further sightings after the 3rd began to show that there was a male Goshawk resident in the area, and it frequents both the zone in the immediate vicinity of the nest site of past seasons and the wider hill and valley landscape beyond, where the breeding male has been seen in flight in the past.

About 08.40 on the 7th I just glimpsed the flash of a pale underwing against the green background of the far slopes of the nest valley, with a momentary second wing flash ahead of it.  The first bird was a Goshawk: not much to see at distance other than the size and brilliance of white undertail coverts and it was soon lost as it flew up the nest valley and so behind a descending spur of the nearer hillside.  Less than an hour later a Goshawk appeared over the edge of woodland encircling the upper rim of the scar area, doubtless the same bird, it circled as it moved along the wood edge, uttering one quiet k-k-k,  and then went out of sight over the immediate skyline.  Previously a Sparrowhawk came into view along the same wood edge and flew rapidly over the skyline: perhaps this could have made the brief wing flash that earlier drew my attention to the distant Goshawk.

Does food-carrying definitely mean breeding?

At about 09.30 on the 9th a bird suddenly came into view about 150 metres away, above the more distant downhill part of the wood along the higher edge of the scar.  I don't know if it had just come up from the wood floor nearby or had arrived from the higher slopes out of direct sight.  On size and wing length I immediately thought it was the Goshawk, although with more persistent wing-flapping than usual as if labouring very slightly to make height.  He headed away high across the upper part of his usual nesting valley but in the poor visibility I lost sight of him against the distant background trees, so got no significant clue to the possible whereabouts of an alternative nest site.

A quick look at the poor images of the distant bird (left) show it was carrying prey, probably the cause of slightly different flight action, but the apparently square-cornered tail made me wonder about the identification.  Had I got the ID wrong?  Well, I've since found several Gos images where the tail can look very square-cornered, especially in oblique or foreshortened views, so I'm sticking with my first impression (though to be honest that's a 'probable' identification rather than certain).  The ID in this case is important because I assume that if the bird is carrying prey, he must have a nest to supply?  Other possibilities are: 1) I misidentified the bird, 2) the bird was a Goshawk but a second bird, not the local male, 3) it was the local male and he was taking food for himself to some site away from his usual haunts.

When you've got to scratch an itch: composite from a flight sequence, 10.vi.2018.

At a similar time the next day, 09.20 on the 10th June, a Goshawk appeared low over the woods running along the upper edge of the scar area.  With a few leisurely wing beats and a couple of soaring turns it moved fast along the wood edge toward the uppermost part of the scar, which from my position forms the skyline, then disappeared over the treetops.  Before he appeared I'd heard a couple of kek-kek-kek call sequences, apparently from points within his usual base area surrounding the nest site; these were not at the typical alarm intensity but I do not know what their context was.  When he first appeared, he seemed to pause and almost dive inelegantly into the wood edge, but distant images show he had an itchy 'chin' that had to be scratched (below)!

The male's core area? 

In the past couple of nesting seasons I have often heard evidence of Goshawk from woodland around the lower end of the scar area.  I strongly suspect the recent male has tended to base himself in that area when breeding, and probably brings prey there before calling the female; this, however, is only an inference from the pattern of male and female calling when breeding - I have never seen such interaction nor found evidence of a plucking site there.  This area is 150-200 metres from the recent watchpoint at the top of the scar, and the nest tree is hidden a further 150-200 metres downslope.

All sightings so far in 2018 have been in the same locations that I have seen the male in flight in past seasons, not just the same general area but particular routes and particular landscape features (eg. the wood edge along the upper and lower margin of the landslip scar.  That is essentially why I assume the same male individual is involved.  A counter argument might be that these are sites conveniently seen from my watchpoint; although I believe it is the same male I cannot prove it.

I saw him again on June 16th and 17th, but not (so far) after the latter date.  There was also a gap in sightings between the 10th and 16th.  On most days when I've seen him in flight I have also heard a subdued call or two, but I did hear a quiet k-k-k call immediately followed by a quiet wee-oo on a day that I never saw him.  I strongly suspect that he tends to shift his centre of activity and may well be a few kilometres away on most days when I've neither heard nor seen him.

Moult starting.  L: 10th June, R: 16th June, 2018.

The latest images (16th June ) I have show the bird is now actively moulting the inner primaries of the left wing.  The composite (right)  shows an image from this date with one from about a week earlier (10th); the arrows indicate the broken-off tip of primary 8 on the right wing, just to confirm these show the same bird.