Northern Goshawk

Can be confused withSource

• Eurasian Sparrowhawk — Sparrowhawk is far smaller and slighter, with a square-ended tail, quicker and lighter wingbeats and none of the Goshawk's distinct white supercilium. Sparrowhawk readily visits gardens; Goshawk keeps to the woods.
• Common Buzzard — Buzzard soars high on broad wings with a short, broad tail. Goshawk has a long tail and short, rounded wings, and flies direct and low between the trees rather than circling.

Plumage and variationSource

Male and female: The female is buzzard-sized, the male considerably smaller — one of the largest size differences among our raptors, and it lets the pair hunt different prey.

Juvenile: The juvenile has a yellow-brown underside patterned with lengthwise rows of drop-shaped spots — not the adult's dense barring.

VoiceSource

The call is a repeated series of hard "gek-gek-gek" notes.

BehaviourSource

Keeps largely hidden in larger woods and plantations and is seldom seen in the open. Hunts birds in fast surprise attacks between the trees; the large female takes prey up to pigeon and pheasant size, while the smaller male takes birds such as thrushes and finches.

When and whereSource

A scarce Danish breeder in larger woods and plantations, and a scarce passage and winter visitor from the north. Formerly heavily persecuted and for a time wiped out across much of the country; after protection in the 1960s the population grew from 150-200 pairs in the early 1970s to a peak in the mid-1990s. By 2021 it stood at around 500 pairs — roughly half the peak — and adults are still reported being shot illegally. Vulnerable on the 2019 Red List.

Facts

RelativesSource