Karmannye's Wildlife Diaries: The Northern Goshawk

Raptors fascinate me. This particular raptor has recently been a topic of debate. I wanted to go to Sattal, Uttarakhand for birding but instead of going to Sattal my father took me to Dagshai, Himachal Pradesh on 23rd March,2019. It was the first time I saw the majestic Northern Goshawk in India. I suddenly heard a lot of Himalyan Bulbuls flying away in an alarmed manner and in came the Goshawk and sat on a half cut down tree in front of me. It landed in a majestic manner with its wings open and its large and bulky talons grabbing onto the perch. It was clear that it had failed to catch its prey and after only a few seconds it flew away and dissapeared to the next perch in search of a new prey. I got five shots of this beautiful raptor and immediately identified it as a Northern Goshawk. According to me it was a Northern Goshawk because it had a clear supercilium, orange-yellow iris colour, black and white coloured barred chest, thin yellow eye ring in front of its eye and its large size. When I reached back home I posted my photo on Facebook, Instagram and some other social media platforms as it was a rare record from this particular area, but some people on Facebook didn't seem to agree that the raptor that I saw was a Northern Goshawk and started a long and hard debate upon this topic. The so called raptor experts on Facebook were not giving valid points and claimed it to be a Eurassian Sparrowhawk. I did not agree with them as the photo that I got didn't show the front part of this raptor which made it tricky to identify, but I saw its front and noticed its size because the field inputs of the person who saw the bird are much more valuable than the bookish knowledge of these people. Still the people on Facebook didn't agree with the fact that it was a Goshawk so, on 29th March, 2019 I set out to find this raptor again and get some shots from the front. Even my father and mother encouraged me to find this bird once again and told me that I should always believe in myself. I went to the same place and took Mr. Rick Toor who is a great birder and a close friend of mine, along with me. We both saw a raptor circling over the same place and got a flying shot from the front. When I went back home I processed the photo and saw that it was also a Northern Goshawk. Later that day I posted the photo on Facebook to show that the raptor was indeed a Northern Goshawk, but still the same people debated against it. This time Mr. Rick Toor shared his opinion and told the people that it was a Northern Goshawk. He told those people in strict manner that they shouldn't criticise a young birder (Karmannye) and target him due to his young age. Thanking Mr.Rick for his support and ignoring all the previous debate I sent the photos to some real raptor experts. The next day I got a reply from the raptor experts that the bird was in fact a Northern Goshawk. Later I came know that most of the people who tried to make me believe that this bird was a Eurasian Sparrowhawk instead of a Northern Goshawk had never seen both of these raptors in the field and were sharing points and photos from Google instead of giving their own observations.

The pointers which I have observed in the field and obtained from raptor experts are-

1.It has a dense and clear supercilium.

2.It has orange-yellow iris colour.

3.It shows six wing fingers while flying.

4.It has three tail bars under its tail.

5.It has a bulky are large build.

6.I saw the bird from all angles in the filed while the people on Facebook are merely commenting on what they see in the photo and none of them have seen a Northern Goshawk themselves.

The points given by the people debating on Facebook are-

1.It is small in size. Though they never saw this bird in the field and can't compare the size.

2.It legs are thin. The legs appear to be thin due to the photo angle but they didn't see its massive talons.

All this debate taught me that no matter what a person tells you or makes you believe something against your will is not always right and sometimes you should trust your inner instinct. In the end this raptor was confirmed as a Northern Goshawk which put an end to all the futile debate on Facebook.