Goshawk

LIVING HABITS

The goshawk prefers to live in old and quiet mixed forests and conifer forests. It builds several twig nests, and uses each in different year. The day-active goshawk is a very skilled hunter. Its technique is based on attacking the prey by surprise. As a skilled flier, it swerves in the cover of vegetation to get closer to the prey before striking. The prey consists of small mammals and small and mid-size birds.

The goshawk’s breeding range reaches from the Western Europe through Russia to the shores of the Pacific and all the way to Japan. The goshawk also nests in Northern America. In Finland, goshawks can be found throughout the country.

PROTECTION

The goshawk is a thriving species globally. The goshawk has been persecuted as hunters have experienced the goshawk as a rival. Before the goshawk became a protected species, in 1989, thousands of goshawks were killed annually in Finland. The illegal harassment of the nesting and the downright killing of the goshawk can still be detected even today in some parts of Finland. The actions of the modern forestry in Finland nowadays pose a special threat to the goshawk species: forests are being split up, and thick-branch nesting trees, ideal for the goshawk, are disappearing.

ADAPTING TO THE WINTER

Old goshawks are non-migratory. The young ones, on the other hand, migrate away from the North for the winter. Goshawks living furthest up in the North may though migrate further down to the South, in search for better lighting for hunting food in the winter.