A few birds from the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta.
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Northern Goshawk:Northern Goshawk Qaku'urtaq I did a lot of cross-country skiing when I lived on the Delta, even on the windy days. When the wind started blowing hard I headed for the woods. And it was there I sometimes encountered the Northern goshawk. I never saw him, at first. I only heard a fast luffing of wings through the trees. Then I'd spot a small bird, maybe a grosbeak, streak past me, followed close behind by this jumbo phantom of feathers, dodging and darting through the tangle of trees, paying no attention to me as it gave chase to what would probably be its next meal. The goshawk is able to fly with such agility through the forest because of its rounded wings and long tail. Especially acute eyesight helps it twist and turn, narrowly avoiding tree branches and other obstacles that would probably maim and kill it if it made the slightest miscalculation. Finally, just at the right moment after overtaking its prey, the hawk thrusts its long legs and feet forward, strikes its victim, drives its sharp talons into the smaller bird's body and quickly dispatches it with a powerful grip of its feet. Accipiter gentilis is the goshawk's scientific name, and translates loosely as "belonging to the noble hawk clan." Its common name, from German, simply means, "goose hawk," probably because in Europe the hawk was known to occasionally attack farmers' geese. The Yupik name Qaku'urtaq translates as "scolding" or "nagging bird," probably because of the nature of its harsh alarm call, cac, cac, cac or cuk, cuk, cuk. My guess is that there's also some onomatopoeia involved here. Perhaps the Yupik verb, "qak'urte," even stems from the sound of a scolding goshawk. This sort of thing has happened before in language. There is another colorful Yupik name for this bird, "Eskaviaq," and probably derives from the way its prey's feathers are scattered when hit in midair. Goshawks, of course, don't hunt and feed in a vacuum. As with all other animals, the ultimate purpose of much of its behavior is to perpetuate the species. All of us must eat a healthy diet so we can have healthy kids. That said, let's fast forward to springtime, when skiing conditions, by the way, are even better in the Delta. After a brief period of diving and swooping with slow wingbeats by both male and female over their nesting territory, the pair soon gets down to business and builds a bulky nest of sticks and twigs on a horizontal branch next to the trunk of a birch, aspen or spruce tree. After lining it with bark strips, evergreen sprigs, grass and feathers, the nest is ready for momma to lay her eggs. Which she does lickety split, about 3-4 of them, large (2.3") and bluish-white in color. Then momma spends the next 36-38 days incubating the eggs, turning them over every half-hour or so to expose them to her warm skin. Her mate, meanwhile, hunts for both of them and feeds her on the nest. He does this even through the first 10 days or so of the nestling stage when the hatched birds are brooded by their mother. After this critical period, the female begins helping with the hunting chores. Finally, when the young are about 42 days old they venture out on the branches of the nest tree and begin ruffling their wings in anticipation of their first flight. This happens about three days later. Even after fledging, however, they are dependent on their parents for at least another month or more. By the time they are fully on their own the first moist snowflakes may already have fallen, and some of their prey, such as the Willow ptarmigan, may have started to turn color in preparation for yet another winter in the far North. Usually goshawks winter over their summer breeding range, but if their staple prey of lemmings, hares and various species of grouse become scarce they will move southward until they find a food supply ample enough to sustain them till Spring when they will once again head north to their nesting grounds in Alaska.  |
