I have a friend that lives in Middleboro, Massachusetts. She has Goshawks  
nesting on her property and sees them almost every day of the year. Many years  
ago I asked her what she thought was a good description of a Gos. She said,  
"Bob. Goshawks look exactly like Goshawks. Nothing else. If it doesn't look  
exactly like a Goshawk, it isn't."
 
Bob Abrams
McLean, Virginia
 
 
In a message dated 4/10/2008 4:59:30 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time,  
 writes:

Hi  all

Sorry about the late post, but I wanted to report what I believe  was a 
Northern Goshawk flying over my yard in Baltimore City.

Early  morning on April 8, before sunrise, I stepped out to my car and 
noticed an  accipiter flying across the street toward my home. He had good size, but 
the  first thing I noticed was how heavy he was. I've seen lots of accipiters 
but  that one's body was heavier than I could remember before. (I've only  
identified one Goshawk before and that was probably 30 years ago in Colorado -  
an adult seen well.) This bird was not seen so well - just a fly-over before  
full sunrise. I hope others may comment on the bird to confirm my ID or teach  
me some things I haven't taken into consideration.

General appearance:  *very* heavy-bodied. If this wasn't a goshawk, it must 
have indulged too much  on Easter sweets. The tail seemed shorter than I would 
have expected of an  accipiter, causing me to second-guess whether it could be 
a buteo, but the  bird really didn't have a buteo shape. 

Flight: The wingbeats were  strong. My first thought was something like, 
"He's sure pushing those wings."  The wing beats extended well below the plane of 
the bird.

In the book,  Hawks in Flight, Dunne et al talk about the broad tail giving a 
"stove pipe"  appearance to the bird - with little demarcation where the tail 
actually  begins in the bird's profile. That detail seemed absolutely 
consistent with  the bird I saw.

But, again, a brief view in poor light ...

I  understand that plumage may be difficult to separate with accipiters, even 
in  good light. But I still invite comments about this unusual bird that hope 
 would be my first goshawk in years.



Don  Burggraf

Baltimore






_________________________________________________________________
More  immediate than e-mail? Get instant access with Windows Live  Messenger.
http://www.windowslive.com/messenger/overview.html?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_Refresh_i
nstantaccess_042008




**************Planning your summer road trip? Check out AOL Travel Guides.    
  (http://travel.aol.com/travel-guide/united-states?ncid=aoltrv00030000000016)