North Queensland Road Trip Winter 2020 – Red Goshawk at the nest

 

Red Goshawk attacks a Whistling Kite

A lengthy encounter with a pair of Red Goshawks was the highlight of a just-completed 40-day road trip to north Queensland, including southern Cape York. The savannah woodlands around Musgrave Roadhouse have long been known as a hotspot for this much sought after raptor, with nesting records spanning more than a decade.

However, the birds seemingly change nests every year, so locating them is not guaranteed. A good start was had on this trip when a male Red Goshawk was seen a few kilometres north of the Hann River Roadhouse, on the Peninsula Development Road between Laura and Musgrave.

Red Goshawks at the nest: pair above, male flying in below

I found the Red Goshawk pair completing construction of their nest early in the morning of our visit to Musgrave. The male and female would occasionally break sticks in trees surrounding the nest tree to add to the structure. I located last year’s nest about 100 metres away; it would have been easier for the birds to simply reinforce this nest or take material from it for a new one. Red Goshawk and Square-tailed Kite are among raptors known to habitually build new nests in the same area, year after year, although sometimes the same nest is used for consecutive seasons.

Male Red Goshawk

The male and female were irregularly in attendance at the nest, occasionally together but mostly one or the other, and never far from it. A Whistling Kite ruffled feathers as it flew overhead; the male Red Goshawk was quick to see it off with a screeching attack in full flight.

Red Goshawk sees off the Whistling Kite

Although I’ve seen the occasional Red Goshawk over the years, I’ve not previously seen a pair together perched. The differences between the male and female are striking, with the female much larger, paler and more powerfully built. The extent of rufous on the underparts of the male suggest it was immature.

Female Red Goshawk

The goshawks seemed content to soak up the early morning sun. As the morning wore on, however, they increasingly took to the wing. 

Female Red Goshawk in flight

First it was mostly short flights through the surrounding woodland, but what appeared to be hunting in earnest was underway by mid-morning. Both birds were then seeing flying sometimes distantly, and apart. Occasionally they were well above the canopy but mostly they were at tree-top level. A magnificent raptor indeed.

Male Red Goshawk in flight

POSTSCRIPT 19/10/2020 When I visited this nest in early-August, the male and female were in attendance, but no eggs had been laid. By late-August the female had laid, and a single young subsequently hatched. Sadly, as the image by Peter Valentine above shows, the young goshawk was found dead recently below the nest. It would have been 3-4 weeks away from fledging. It's particularly of concern because this species is so rare. Bird tour perators are believed to have taken groups there, and quite a few others visited the nest. Red Goshawks in this area had previously deserted a nest unexpectedly. Some raptors are known to stop sitting on eggs or feeding young if subjected to undue human attention. As well, roadworks were underway in the vicinity of the nest and this could have disturbed the birds. It is impossible to know whether human intervention was a factor here, or if it simply was an accident, with the bird falling from the nest. Food for thought, nonetheless.