ML21693711
Contributor
Date
Location
- Age and sex
- Unknown age, Unknown sex - X
- Sounds
- Call
- Playback
- Playback not used
Observation details
A Goshawk or Blue Jay Call? Context: Recorded December 7th, 2015, near Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, in a forest where Goshawk is known to breed and reside, with the "movie feature" of an iphone 6. The calls sounded significantly louder in the field; they continued intermittently for approximately 3 minutes with individual calls typically grouped in twos and threes though sometimes alone; call playback was not used to elicit a response from the bird; no other bird sounds were heard during, or immediately before or after the recording was made; I estimated the bird to be about 200m away, assuming it was a Goshawk; no Blue Jay was seen nearby, though some had been heard doing their typical calls and observed 1+ km away earlier. The bird producing the call was searched for but not found. The call itself is composed of two notes, from G# to F. It is very much like Sibley's "juvenile calls # 1_UT" recording. The pitch is right-on. Questions: 1) What type of call is this? This is a typical food-begging call of a juvenile Goshawk. But this wailing-like call can also be made by an adult Goshawk, in particular a courting female. It is a relatively common Goshawk call. 2) Could this call be made by a Goshawk in December? Although uncommonly, experienced field observers have reported hearing immature Goshawk use the food begging call in late-fall or mid-winter, especially when the young bird is in the presence of another adult Goshawk. Courtship of Goshawk occurs in the early months of the year, so a mid-december call heard on a territory where Goshawk are known to breed and likely reside year-round is possible. 3) Could this call be made by a Blue Jay in December? Local Blue Jay will have heard and likely learned the calls of Goshawk as the hawks breed in this location. Some of these birds may still be around, especially given the mild fall we have had locally. This said, Blue Jay from more northern location may also have learned the call. Blue Jay are excellent mimicks. Experienced field observers report Blue Jay performing near-perfect imitations of Goshawk and other raptors, Discussion: A definitive conclusion as to the identity of the bird making this call is likely impossible given the information provided above. An experienced field observer familiar with Blue Jay mimicry believes the recorded call has a certain "Blue Jay quality" to it. Others think it is just right for Goshawk. Both birds could possibly do this call in mid-December. Based on my own personal experience in the field that day -I found the call to be quite loud and was unable to locate any corvid nearby, I am inclined to believe I heard a Goshawk. For this reason, and because this discussion may be of interest to ebirders studying Goshawk-like vocalizations, I have assigned my observation to "1 Goshawk, age unknown" with the caveat this may be wrong, and that a particularly talented Blue Jay may have been responsible for the call instead. As Goshawk is commonly, and has recently been reported at this location, an erroneous assignment to Goshawk in this case will not overly skew the ebird database negatively. On the other hand, anyone interested in goshawk vocalizations will now be able to find this discussion easily -which would not be the case if it were not reported at all.
Technical information
- Recorder
- iphone 6
- Microphone
- Accessories
- Original file size
- 1.87 MB