The Goshawk hunt

Nature sometimes seems cruel, and to a bird lover, birds hunting other birds may seem even more so. But this is all part of the natural world, and if you are fortunate enough to witness such an event, it can be very exciting.

Late this autumn, I had the good fortune to notice in my drive a Northern Goshawk that had just caught and killed a Mallard. While I watched through the window, the Goshawk plucked and ate the majority of this very large duck. The uneaten portion was dragged into the woods, presumably to be finished later. A hawk expert tells me that Goshawks are not known to cache food for later, except occasionally during the breeding season, and we were past that time. I never did find the remains of the Mallard, but there are lots of other predators to clean up the carcass.

As if one Goshawk wasn’t enough of a thrill for a bird watcher, the very next day the event repeated itself! I am assuming that the Goshawk on day two was a different bird, as a Mallard is a rather large meal for this hawk, predator and prey being about the same weight at just over two pounds. The second Goshawk was spooked off before finishing its kill and did not return to eat. A Goshawk kills by puncturing the heart and/or lungs of its prey with razor sharp talons, and investigation of the uneaten Mallard confirmed this is how it died.

Goshawks are specialists at hunting birds, feasting on grouse, ducks and other medium-size birds it ambushes from above. This style of hunting allows it to capture birds up to its own size, since there is no need to carry off the prey. A good meal like the Mallard can provide enough sustenance for several days for a large raptor.

Throughout the summer I had been providing corn for the resident family of Sandhill Cranes. The cranes were well fed, and the corn also attracted Juncos, White-Crowned Sparrows and Mallards. It was this flock of up to 15 Mallards that attracted the hawks to my yard.

Both of my Goshawk visitors were adults, each with a beautiful coat of steel gray feathers and a jaunty black mask across the eyes, highlighting a white eyebrow. The young of the year are streaked brown, a coloration they will keep through their first year. They are a large hawk, not common but a regular resident and breeder in the forested areas of Alaska, and the only large hawk that winters here.

You may not feel right when a bird at your feeder becomes a meal for another, larger bird, but these hunters also need to eat and will catch food elsewhere even if we don’t see it.

Another resident bird hunter, the Northern Shrike, is also a year-round resident. In warmer winters or along the coast you may also see the smaller Sharp-shinned Hawks and Merlins hunting near bird feeders. Watch for these top of the food chain raptors to visit your yard this winter.

Nancy Wade is member of the Mat-Su Birders and Alaska WildBird Rehabilitation Center. Send birding questions for her column on birding to alaskaflamingo@yahoo.com.