pink and black

Pink and black - from the 1950s - will it ever come back? Will that Goshawk you saw, travelling through the sky, ever come back? The answer is probably Yes! And for 2 reasons. So you go to your local authorities, the Fish and Game Department and the Audubon Society, and you speak with the president and a field-trip leader, and you get the same vapid, canned response, "that bird was probably just passing through". So logic now states; the best time to see that bird or its progeny again is to wait 1 year from that sighting and then set -up a hawk-watch site, hoping to see that bird again. Right? Wrong! The proper (logical) time to look for that bird again - is now!

Depending on your location - latitude and altitude - that bird may be the product of a nesting situation; even though the nest is 5 or even 10 miles away from your sighting. Or that bird has been in your area - as a winter visitor for many years, yet now you are starting to notice the bird. The other situation could be that the bird is entering your area for the first time, and may spend 3 or 4 months in your area as a winter resident. One other thought problem: if your area is or could be conducive to breeding Goshawks, then that visiting winter-raptor or its progeny or phenotype might stay in your area and become a breeder.

As an aside - on a New Jersey Christmas bird count, Pete Kwiatek and I saw a mature, female Goshawk - pumping low over the ground. This bird had a pink throat and upper chest. This is unusual, but not unheard of.