Goshawk Display

GOSHAWK DISPLAY

Courtship flight displays involve soaring over the nest area with slow, measured wing beats. Displays are performed by both males and females. The full sky dance involves high circling and soaring, followed by an undulating ‘roller-coaster’ flight together with languid flapping (gradually losing height). Regaining height by circling, the display ends with a plunge from a height of several hundred metres, sometimes almost vertically into the nesting wood, with wings held to the sides. If the observer is close enough, wailing calls may be heard. The undulating flight can include sharp descents and almost ‘bouncing’ back up with wings held nearly closed (as can Sparrowhawks).

The slow deliberate wing beats with wings held stiff and straight is almost a rowing action and is reminiscent of Hen Harrier (with a hint of Short-eared Owl sometimes). Males can sky dance in a series of shallow undulations, stooping at the female after flap-soaring to a high altitude. Males perform undulating sky diving displays more than females, which favour the more harrier-like display with stiff wing beats.

‘If you can count the wing beats, then it’s a Goshawk’ may be an over-simplification but is a comment I’ve heard a few times. When tail feathers are held together and undertail coverts spread widely, it can make the Goshawk appear to have a short broad tail with a long dark strip extending from the centre. Soaring, as distinct from display, can be associated with a bird moving from one part of the range or out of the area rather than to any hunting behaviour.

Both Goshawk and Sparrowhawk perform similar soaring and display flights with deep, slow wing beats and undulating flight at or near the nest and both will plummet from height into woodland.

The Sparrowhawk problem

Some adult Goshawks can appear browner than grey, depending on whether they originated from central or northern Europe. Falconers’ releases or escaped birds mainly came from Scandinavia where birds tend to be larger and greyer. Most Goshawk in Britain are of the large northern race.

Even though some female Sparrowhawks may approach the size of a male Goshawk, even the heaviest female is less than half the weight of a male Goshawk. This results in an entirely different jizz, with the Goshawk having a much bulkier profile. Even Tawny Owls are heavier than female Sparrowhawks! The wingspan of a large female Goshawk may be twice that of small Sparrowhawk males.

Sparrowhawk
male / Sparrowhawk
female / Goshawk
Male / Goshawk
female / Buzzard male / Buzzard female
Average weight / 155g / 290g / 800g / 1200g / 780g / 1000g
Average
wing-span / 58 – 65cm / 68 - 80cm / 93 - 105cm / 108 – 140cm / 113 – 130cm
Average
body length / 28 - 34cm / 35 - 41cm / 49 - 57cm / 58 – 64cm / 51 – 57cm

Female Goshawks can be as large as a Common Buzzard with a wingspan to match. Males are on average only 25% bigger than a female Sparrowhawk but the bulk of the Goshawk should always be striking. However, confusion can arise in distant or brief views, or when seen gliding on motionless wings (which can cause uncertainty in even themost experienced observer). A range of features should be examined, although there are bound to be times when a bird will remain unidentified. It’s worth remembering that only a proportion of birds can always be confidently identified. It’s far better to put something down as a ‘possible’, or even just ‘accipiter species’ if you’re unsure and try to revisit to get confirmation, or request help from other observers.

The male Goshawk is nearly always much greyer in appearance than the usually browner female Sparrowhawk, but a few old female Sparrowhawks can be grey above. Immature Goshawks, both male and female, will also look brown. Mature male Goshawk have lead grey upperparts, a strikingwhite supercilium, a blackish crown and ear coverts giving almost a hooded appearance (but you usually have to be fairly close to see thesefeaturesclearly). The female Sparrowhawk has a less distinctive face pattern. Plumage features are less helpful on distant birds but if you’re close enough to see plumage in detail, identification should be more straightforward.

The underwing barring of the Goshawk’s flight feathers is less crisply marked and looks washed out, especially in older birds. Juveniles (streaked below and brown upperparts) and immatures lack the white undertail coverts and dark ear coverts of the adults and their underwing patterns can be more clearly marked.

The Goshawk structure is subtly different when seen well, with a longer, broader arm with bulging secondaries giving a curved trailing edge to the wings, ending in a narrower hand, which sometimes gives a pointed effect. The female Sparrowhawk can also show a secondary bulge but as the ‘hand’ is shorter, the overall impression of the wing shape is still different from Goshawk. The relatively shorter, broad based tail has a slightly more rounded tip than the Sparrowhawk’s square cut tail (though tails can vary depending on the stage of moult).

Goshawks have a more protruding head, thicker neck and heavier, deeper body (far more barrel chested and with a fuller belly), and this ‘undercarriage’ can be visible even when viewed from behind. Male Goshawks are always clearly larger than a Crow while a female Sparrowhawk is not. A Goshawk always looks ‘meatier’ than a Sparrowhawk – a real powerful bruiser by comparison.

When soaring, the Goshawk silhouette of long neck and broad wings gives the impression of a cruciform shape rather than the T-shaped Sparrowhawk. Juvenile Goshawks are slimmer with narrower wings and a longer tail. The tail length is approximately the same as the wing width in an adult, but longer in a juvenile. In some birds, the detailed patterns of the feathers can be distinctive enough to recognise individual Goshawk, if seen well enough.

Goshawks have a slower more powerful flight with a steadier body position than Sparrowhawks, which appear to have a ‘flickering’ almost panicky flight action. In the normal flap-flap-glide action of Sparrowhawks, the wingbeats are very stiff, whereas in Goshawk the wingbeats are slower and less stiff than Sparrowhawk and slightly elastic. They appear to differ in flight action in the same way Common Buzzard and Honey Buzzard do, with very stiff and shallow wing beats in the former and elastic and deeper wing beats in the latter.

The glides in between flaps are generally longer and very little height is lost. Goshawks soar with wings level or slightly raised, and also adopt a slower harrier-like flight with stiff wing beats, particularly when near the nesting wood. On a gliding bird, the head projects beyond the bend of the wing in a Goshawk but not on a Sparrowhawk whose head usually appears more tucked into the body.

The undertail coverts are generally more prominent in displaying Goshawks, with the white being ‘chunkier’, looking almost like it’s carrying a powder puff, sometimes sticking out and seeming to wrap right round the tail and the sides of the rear body. However, this feature by itself is not something which automatically distinguishes them from Sparrowhawks as the latter too can tail ‘flag’, puffing out the white undertail coverts, which can be surprisingly striking.

Sparrowhawk tails look narrower at the rump end (a pinched in look) which should contrast with the Goshawk’s broader based tail. Goshawks can also soar with closed tails but their tail always looks broad all the way down and more ‘solid’ looking, especially from the side, as opposed to the fairly flimsy looking Sparrowhawk’s tail.

Although able to fly at great speed, Goshawks usually appear slower and heavier in flight than Sparrowhawks, with less abrupt twists and turns and with a wider turning circle. However, Sparrowhawk display can be equally in ‘slow motion’ and, at such times, they can appear much larger than they really are, particularly females. In strong winds, female Sparrowhawks can appear very laboured in flight which leads to an impression of a slower, more powerful flight than usual.

The reaction of other birds is sometimes helpful in distinguishing distant birds. It has been said that Sparrowhawks will be mobbed while most birds, including corvids, flee from Goshawks but this does seem to vary in differentareas. At one site, most corvids and even the local Buzzards seemed to avoid the female Goshawk while elsewhere, crows have been observed mobbing a male Goshawk.

The presence of other birds is always useful in accurately sizing Goshawk and Sparrowhawk. At a harrier roost, the female Sparrowhawk seen were always smaller than both male and female Hen Harrier whereas a male Goshawk was of a similar size to the harrier and the female Goshawk bigger.

On perched birds, the bulk of a Goshawk should be obvious and they can look whiter underneath than a Sparrowhawk from a distance (almost Peregrine white sometimes to my eyes). In flight also,Goshawks appear very pale whitish below on both the body and underwings, whereas Sparrowhawks seem less so, particularly on the underwings, which could be the effect of being smaller and the barring below being not as fine as on Goshawk. The legs always look sturdier, as opposed to the relatively spindly legs of a Sparrowhawk.

Links below to some excellent field observations. I’ve not found many direct comparison photos, so if anyone has links they can share, that would be helpful. I also have a photo of Goshawk with Red Kite for a size comparison.

References/ recommendations

Forsman, D. The Raptors of Europe and Middle East

Porter et al, Flight Identification of European Raptors

Williamson, J. The Goshawk in Norfolk: what is its true status?

Harris, Vinnicombe, Tucker MacMillan Field Guide to Bird Identification

Birds of the Western Palearctic Interactive DVD

Doherty, P. Guide to British Birds of Prey DVD

Thanks also to Graeme Hewson, Ash Murray and Connor Rand for additional ID comments.

1