Goshawk tails

William S. Clark in "Hawks" states and the illustration show : Tail -tip that is wedge shaped when folded. The question is, is that statement always true. I say no. Perched birds and perched raptors can manipulate their tail feathers, and in also in flight. Of my possibly 3,000 daily sightings of of NG, very few were observed while perched. At http://www.goshawksoftucson.blogspot.com/ is a photograph of a mature Goshawk at University of Arizona. This hawk is so high in a snag that I could not determine the the size of the hawk, therefor could not sex the bird. The photo shows a severely tapered tail and tapered tail-tip. The photo also shows a robust chest.

NG tails are usually very long. The tail tip can be square, or rounded, or, as I have noticed only once, and in Anacortes, Washington, in summer 2009 - a NG with a club shaped tail-tip! This tail-tip was also asymmetrical, thereby concluding: 2 male Goshawks were hunting at the Pioneer Trails RV Park- just outside the city limits of Anacortes, because 1 male NG had a square-tip tail (with no terminal band). So, NG can have a thick,white, terminal band; a thin, white, terminal band; or no terminal band.

NG have tails that are very broad at the base, and this broadness is carried throughout the tail length. But the tail must be folded. Even then, a mature female NG has a large area of white, fluffy, under tail coverts that can obscure the tail base.

From Anacortes, standing in my son's driveway, near the school, was a female NG cruising at about 200 feet elevation. The size, shape, altitude of the hawk all suggested NG female. The hawk was approaching my position at 50 degrees off my zenith and to the side. I glassed the hawk; the base of the tail was pinched, and was not as wide as the tail -tip. So, now I am thinking Cooper's. But too many strong points go against the hawk being a Cooper's. Explanation- the folded tail was not completely folded, it was slightly fanned.

Pete Dunne's "Hawks in Flight" chapter "Accipiters": last statement "If you are close enough, why not just count the tail bands? Goshawks show 4, Cooper's 3." I will never use that factor. Maybe I have tried that concept, but will never again. I don't need this way to identify accipiters.
First, the hawk has to be at close range. Second-the hawk must be near your zenith. Third- the hawk must have its tail fanned. Mr. Dunne's idea of tail bands goes against my concept of hawking. The idea of waiting, and observing, waiting some more, and observes some more, and then when the hawk is overhead to try and make your identification is not hawking. The goshawk, especially the female, can easily be identified nearly instantly at distances of close to 1 mile- naked eye. If not- then one half mile away. Or would you believe 400 yards away? Hawk watching is not a waiting game, hoping the hawk will pass near your position. Once the novice hawk watcher begins looking for field marks or specific color-patterns, then the novice hawk watcher is reverting into becoming a birder. The main factors of hawking are size, shape, and movement of wings. And at the same time, the general color of the hawk, such as black, brown, white, or gray is automatically taken into the sub-conscious. One more item, and you will not find this in field guides- Northern Goshawks with folded tails will show that the under tail is black- except for the white terminal band. Again we are talking of hawks in flight-and not at close range. If you analyze Mr. D. A. Sibley's artwork on accipiter's tails in "Hawks in Flight", it does not suggest what Pete Dunne suggests.