A while back my father told me about a co-worker who had been attacked and injured by some kind of hawk. The bird swooped in from behind, striking the back of the man's head. Startled, he went down hard: bruised and maybe bloodied, the details are fuzzy at this point.
That was an American Goshawk. An uncommon resident of our Adirondack Woods known to be an enthusiastic defender of its nesting territory. I'm always on the look out for birds I haven't previously seen and the Goshawk is a tough bird to find, unless they find you.
My experience started with the loud screeching call of a hawk in the trees above me. Looking up, scanning to see what it was, I was startled to see an alarmingly large bird hurtling straight at me. I threw up my arms, and ducked, and the bird veered off passing a few feet over my head. I knew instantly what it was.
The bird landed in plain sight on a branch maybe 30 yards behind me, screeching its warning call. And before the situation had fully sunk in, it launched itself into the air for a second pass. Being a little better prepared I was able to use a nearby tree for cover and again it veered off. At this point I was three hours into a buggy hike looking for specific pictures I needed for a story I'm working on, and while I considered retreating, the bird kept circling around behind me so I decided that moving forward along the trail was my best bet for ending the encounter. If only the bird had understood my plan.
The Goshawk dove at me repeatedly, circling around to come in from behind, screeching the entire time. I quickly realized that when the screeching stopped it meant that it had launched itself into the air for another pass. I informed it that I was leaving as fast as I could but it was waving my hiking poles over my head and banging them together that provided the best defense. Once I was a couple of hundred yards up the trail it seemed like I might finally be out of range, that's when the Goshawk came in for one last surprise attack. This bird is a master of teaching by reinforcement. It really wants you to know that it is not fooling around.
If you are wondering, I’m not saying exactly where I had this encounter. Even a few birders going to add this species to their checklist could be detrimental to the nesting success of this pair. And besides, you might get knocked off your feet by one angry hawk, I don't want to be complicit in that.
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