wildlife photography through the lens of an animator
Showing posts with label Grey Goshawk (Accipiter novaehollandiae). Show all posts
Showing posts with label Grey Goshawk (Accipiter novaehollandiae). Show all posts

Friday, April 10, 2009

White Goshawk: second encounter

The second time I spotted the White Goshawk was in the middle of last week. This time there was no window between the lens and the bird. Again he (I think it's a male bird as the females are supposed to be quite big and this one is only slightly bigger than a Cockatoo) didn't stay still for more than 15-20 seconds. Obviously this is his way of hunting. He scans the area with his sharp eyes and moves to the next lookout. A beautiful bird. I'm sure the local Turtle Doves and Blackbirds would disagree...
I find the claws on the last photo very impressive. Grey Goshawk (white morph), Tasmania
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Sunday, March 8, 2009

White Goshawk

[edit] For much better photos of the White Goshawk see this post: White Goshawk - Second Encounter

First of all, I would like to apologize to readers for not having time to post as regularly as I would like to. And I haven't had time to visit any fellow bloggers' sites recently either. I will try to catch up over the next few days.

Below are two pretty bad images of an awesome bird - the Grey Goshawk (White morph), also known as White Goshawk.
What's the story?
I had my camera's battery in the charger and was doing some house work when I had a look through the window and spotted something white quite far away. "Hm! What a funny looking Cockatoo." I thought. But the thought lasted only a millisecond. I quickly remembered a friend telling me about the white bird of prey he'd seen half a year ago. This made me shaking, but still I was quick enough: grabbed the camera, loaded the battery, and took five shots in one second through the dirty window. That was it. The bird was gone.
Grey Goshawk, White morph, Tasmania
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There is some inconsistency in the information about the color. Some sources call it phase, as if it is altering between the grey and white in the same individual, but others talk about morph (or form) which means that some individuals are white and others are grey. And I even found one stating that all Grey Goshawks on Tasmania are white. (This sounds funny. As my dad would say here: All the blue plums are red, 'cause they are still green.)
I consider it to be a morph rather than a phase.

Here is what Wikipedia says about it:
The Grey Goshawk, Accipiter novaehollandiae, the white morph of which is known as the White Goshawk, is a strongly built, medium-sized bird of prey in the family Accipitridae.
The grey morph has a pale grey head and back, dark wingtips, barred grey breast and tail, and white underparts. The white morph is the only bird of prey in the world to be entirely white.[2]
Grey Goshawks are about 40–55 cm long, with wingspans of 70–110 cm. Females are much larger than males, weighing about 680 g. Males average 350 g.
This is the link to the whole article.