Cookie puts out about 3 lbs of grain daily for our local quail and songbirds. We have a few raptors, however, taking advantage of the lesser's comings and goings. With a hawk's arrival, the quail will hustle into some cover where they peek out and patiently wait for the enemy to leave. When this guy appears though, the quail go into a blind panic smashing into the house, woodshed, boat, pickup, or what have you. All he has to do is select a still fluttering carcass, and breakfast is on with little to no effort. Once in a while it will score a cottontail for a little variety.
Goshawk:

About 20 to 25 inches tall with a black mask and white eyebrow above as the primary distinctive attribute separating it from Red tails and Coopers. This one is getting to be a regular spending most of the day on the post above the feeders. Guess he recognizes a fat hog when he sees one.

I believe Elmer's first game taken with the then new .44 mag. was a Goshawk... After you story, I can see why he nailed it... Times were different then.. Nice story about the quail, but I think Elmer had the right idea about these hawks...

I know some old timers that would've passed up a whole covey of qusil to nail that bastid.....

Feeders are predator stations in some cases they do more harm than good. Rio7

Don't harm our urban quail at all. Thousands of California quail in our community. Often see 2 or 300 in as little as a 2 block stretch.

That thing’s awesome!

Looks like a liberal quail fat and lazy, I wonder if he can fly ? Rio7

Actually a very remote one about 60 miles from town. An extremely cold morning, and he was trying to warm up in the AM sun.

1, are there many quail in the hills... I found this in Az.. tons of quail in town, but few in the hills..

WyoCoyoteHunter:


Very few. Thousands in town and around farm/homesteads, a few along brushy drainages and edges of meadows, and rare and extremely scattered out in the sagebrush hills. They really like thick conifers like fir, spruce, and some juniper for overnighting, and a bit of water available.

They are widely dispersed during the spring summer breeding season well up into the forests, but covey back up and come down in late summer. Lots of chukar and hun hunters here, but few bother looking for California quail.

Saw fair numbers of quail in the Arizona deserts in winter, but they're not out and about much here in Oregon.

Have a good one,

Thanks..

If you ever get a chance to watch one fly down dinner you'll understand what awsome is all about. I have seen them fly down grouse, ducks and pheasants. They are unreal good at it. I've had Gyrs, peregrins and peregrin/gyr crosses over my dogs and watching a gos go get 'em is more fun for me.

Not many falconers will take on a gos a second time.

Only one I saw score in the air was after a Flicker in the forest, and the Flicker was well aware of being chased. Still, it did not have the moves to make an escape as the hawk matched every bob and weave.

We have Coopers, Sharp Shin, and the Goshawks come through every day. The Coopers are near suicidal smacking into the house or windows as they give chase. Had one knock himself out a couple years back when both the quail and hawk hit the window. The quail died on impact, and hawk came to about 5 minutes after the collision. Cookie snapped a picture or two while I had it in hand. If one looks closely, he can see her reflection in the bird's eye.


Another Coopers that scored a quail in the back yard.


And here's a back yard Sharp Shin. They're about the size of a skinny pigeon, and mostly run down smaller song birds. They will get after things up to quail or Eurasian dove size though. Not seen them take on the bunnies.

All of our back lot fowl have to keep a sharp eye out. If one looks out and there are no birds about, there's a hawk somewhere.

Put a victor leg hold trap on that post....

Where I quail hunt in E WA I have Cooper’s hawks fly over me waiting to pick off flushed quail

Even snatched a few quail I have shot

Great pics

Just heard a quail hit the house. Cookie saw the Goshawk heading around the corner with the victim.

Zero quail here. Thats pretty damned cool that you can see hundreds at times. cool ittle birds.

And the Goshawk, just pure awesome.

Thanks for the pics.

Goshawks are awesome. Great picture!

Always loved watching raptors.

We only have Goshawks as winter visitors in S. Az. Coopers and Sharp Shinned are residents.

Accipiters are not your regular hawk. Very aggressive as stated already. Falconers that work with goshawks on rabbits have reported that the bird will go into heavy brush on foot to get the rabbit! Some of these accipiters are so aggressive they sometimes go for the falconer's face, not a falconer's starter bird like a redtail.

Az has a unique bird, the Harris Hawk which is a parabuteo the only one of its kind. They also hunt cooperatively with up to 7 or so birds.(last year's offspring plus parents)

https://www.google.com/search?q=har...iw=1231&bih=581#imgrc=qv5kDDBFpm5Z2M


Coopers and Harris Hawks are very common within Tucson's city limits where they thrive on doves and other birds.

I love watching the hawks. To my grandmother every hawk was a "chicken hawk" and she was deadly with that 12 gauge double barrel.

Anybody that has a "bird feeder" should be aware that it is also a hawk (really accipter) feeder, and a cat feeder where there are outside cats. Fortunately the vast majority of the birds that come to our neighbors' feeders here are non-natives, especially (not) English (not) Sparrows, House Finches, and Asian Ringdoves. Coopers' Hawks are the only raptor that's on the increase in CA, and it is due to suburban bird feeders. Around here they nest in Mexican Fan palms, about 70 feet up in the air and drink from swimming pools before people get up in the morning.

I too have had gamebirds stolen by accipters: a sharpshin stole a dead quail from me in Whitman County WA and a Northern Goshawk stole a dead ruffed grouse from me in Rensselaer County NY. (I couldn't shoot because I was laughing too hard in both cases).

Accipters' short, wide wings and long skinny bodies are adapted to "swimming" through foliage on the way to a kill. And they ARE dangerous "pets": read Steven Bodio's book on falconry.

GREAT pics! Thanks for posting!