This goshawk beauty is spreading its wings

At the Irish Raptor Study Group conference in Dublin last weekend, Sarah Hoy of the University of Aberdeen spoke about the goshawk, a bird of increasing interest in Ireland. 

Pairs are breeding now in northern counties; colonisation may be under way.

This predator resembles an oversized sparrowhawk. As with most birds of prey, the female ‘goose hawk’ is bigger than the male. With a wingspan exceeding a metre, she’s as big as a buzzard. Telling goshawks apart from sparrowhawks in the wild isn’t easy but the goshawk’s wing-beats are noticeably slower. The display flights, high over nesting territories in spring, are characteristic but the species often remains undetected by bird-watchers.