2 January 2010 Galveston- goshawks
What a difference a sun makes! We in Kemah have experienced since our arrival, 6 and one half days of pleasant weather, out of 25 days. So, with bright sun and our first trip to Galveston, just a drive through, I observed 2 different Northern goshawks, in flight, of course,
The first NG (observation time about 3 minutes) was at 9th Street and Harborside Dr. at 12:45 P.M. The hawk was soaring and flapping at about 400 feet elevation. This hawk was not long-winged nor short, stubby winged, therefor, I could not sex the bird.This hawk also had a very slightly rounded tail-tip, with no white terminal band. This accipiter may have been flying with another Goshawk, but by the time I pulled over to glass the hawk, the other possible NG had gone to ground or trees.
Please notice: I am not satisfied with just sexing and ageing Goshawks. The main reason that I track and chase Goshawks is to gather information on that (any) Goshawk, so as to get a more accurate concept of how many goshawks are in any particular area. Hint- were you to find 1 Goshawk - there are usually 2.
Then at 1:45 P.M. on FM3005 and 7 Mile Rd. (near the birding hot spots of Stewart Rd.), a male Goshawk was circling and gliding at about 400 feet elevation. This hawk was definitely a short, stubby -winged Goshawk.
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Hi Nelson. I got a new camera and lens for Christmas. You tell me when and where and we'll go take Goshhawk pictures. Dan
ReplyDeleteDan- thanks for your interest. I don't detect any action on your part to intimidate me. You may be trying to make a point, and prove me wrong. But, you are coming to the table with an open mind. What I garner from your message is- that you are selling yourself short. I don't have to take you by the hand, tell you where to stand, tell you in what direction to observe, nor at what time is the most desirous to observe. This is not brain surgery nor higher mathmatics. I will stick with you on this issue. As it stands now, nearly all of my tactics and strategies are on this weblog. Now, more to the point, even at a loss of money, depending on the weather, we want out of Texas as soon as possible, and this is because of the terrible weather conditions and that we live in a RV trailer. The main thing you should realize is that I am not a shaman, or mystery man. I spend about 1,000 hours in the field anually, and for all this amount of time I have come up empty most of the time.
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