Northern Goshawk diet (1 Viewer)

[Phorusrhacos]

Good day. I just wanted to know about the prey differentiation between male and female Northern Goshawks (Accipiter gentilis): the prey range of males and that of females, the hunting tactics they employ and when differences are least and most obvious. It's for a school project. Thanks.

-Phorusrhacos

 

[pe'rigin]

Pretty much anything for the female.
She really is not choosy.

Male small to medium sized prey items, pigeons they like.
He will pursue more than the female. Magpies seem to get it from the male.


Birds of all sorts. In winter they like duck and in places like Holland and Northern Germany they hang around ponds and lakes waiting for the duck to arrive.

Rabbits, rats, rodents and squirrels.

They ambush their prey, usually they have a favourite site or hunting passage.

In the New Forest they hunt early and late at the human picnic sites for the pigeons and Jackdaws who are after our left-overs.

The male will provide for a while for the female and young, then once the young start to get bigger and can cope with being left, she goes hunting.

The largest prey item I've seen for a female is a female pheasant.
For a male a tufty.

 

[YourBirdOasis]

Try to get your hands on Storer, R.W. (1966) Sexual dimporphism and foods of accipiters. Auk 83:423-36. There is a great figure in this paper that illustrates the difference in prey preferences between male and female Northern Goshawks. You should be able to get a pdf of this paper for no charge through the SORA (Searchable Ornitholgical Research Archive) database:

http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/

 

[MJB]

Good day. I just wanted to know about the prey differentiation between male and female Northern Goshawks (Accipiter gentilis): the prey range of males and that of females, the hunting tactics they employ and when differences are least and most obvious. It's for a school project. Thanks.

-Phorusrhacos

Once a breeding territory has been chosen, the first to suffer are other raptors, and often owls. Goashawk usually is intolerant of any competition for prey. Not for nothing is the Goshawk in the Netherlands known as 'the Brute'!
MJB

 

[Tideliner]

We had a pair in my woods last year and the female seemed to mainly prey on pheasants , both cocks and hens. Some years ago i saw a young female riding on the back of a hare. I did not seem to know what to do with it or how to kill it. They were locked togeather for a few miniuets before dissapearing into a field of corn.

We have a joke when a new birdwatcher asks what they prey on " they will take anything smaller than a bullock ".

 

[Himalaya]

What are the largest prey items the male Goshawk can hunt? Can he hunt birds of prey such as Buzzard, Honey Buzzard, Red Kite?

 

[Tideliner]

They have been recorded taking honey buzzards.

 

[fugl]

I think I remember reading somewhere that they've been known to take roe deer (the fawns, presumably)

 

[Lmc3598]

hi
here is a list of raptors taken by goshawks
kestrel
sparrowhawk
hobby
peregrine
buzzard
honey buzzard
red kite
LE owl
SE owl
barn owl
tawny owl
little owl
great grey owl
raven
grey heron (I know these last two aren't raptors but still pretty surprising)

That's only in europe so they must take more species in America

 

[Himalaya]

I think it is more surprising that the Goshawk can predate birds such as Buzzard and Great Grey Owl than a raven.

No mention of Marsh Harrier, Hen Harrier, Booted Eagle, Rough Legged and Leong Legged Buzzard?

One of my friend is a falconer and hsi female Goshawk has eaten 5 of his Sakers and Peregrines.

 

[Lmc3598]

They seem like like the dominant predators in the bird world. Until a hungry gold eagle or eagle owl shows up!

 

[demondog]

One of my friend is a falconer and hsi female Goshawk has eaten 5 of his Sakers and Peregrines.[/QUOTE]

Your friend sounds like an iresponsible falconer. He needs to learn how to look after his birds! One mishap I can understand but 5?

 

[sglynas]

I went to a talk on Goshawks in the North yorks Moors area.
the main prey fed to the young of a pair that had been filmed during the nesting season was Grey Squirrel,
I think from memory theu accounted for most of the food provided by the Male while the femail was looking after the eggs and the young while they were small.

this was maybe because there was a large amont of Squirrel in the area, small rabbits were also taken
I cannot remember the facts and figures but suprisingly Birds only made up about 15% of food given to the young in this nest, (a little owl was one of them though)

Steve,

 

[Steve Dudley]

Try to get your hands on Storer, R.W. (1966) Sexual dimporphism and foods of accipiters. Auk 83:423-36. There is a great figure in this paper that illustrates the difference in prey preferences between male and female Northern Goshawks. You should be able to get a pdf of this paper for no charge through the SORA (Searchable Ornitholgical Research Archive) database:

http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/

The PDF of the above paper is free to view at here.

Fascinating reading. See from table 4 onwards for the meat of it.