Ina Road NGS

9 March 9:30 A.M. Ina Road Dam
1 female NG soaring and flapping at about 200 feet elevation. After 1 minute the hawk just disappeared. The hawk was the size of a Red-tailed Hawk. The wings were long and the folded tail was long. The wing beats were very deep. The wing beats were quite slow and relaxed. The wing tips were pointed. The wings had a moderate "s" shape. 30 minutes later we observed the same hawk. I also observed a male NG rapidly climbing to 200 feet elevation. This NG was flapping with very deep, very rapid, and very flexible wing beats. The size, shape, and proportions of the NG suggested MALE.
In my 18 years of living with Northern goshawks, I have only observed relatively slow , deep wing beats on 3-4 goshawks and all happened to be female. I will take a stab at it and suggest the reason for this unusual type of flight - The goshawk was fatigued!

There are some birders throughout the U.S. who are just waiting for this type of report, so they can castigate and denegrate me! Well, get yer own blog and CASTigate AWAY.