The Goshawks of Australia: Masters of Stealth and Power
Australia is home to three remarkable species of goshawk, each a formidable bird of prey with unique characteristics and hunting strategies. These medium to large raptors belong to the family Accipitridae and represent some of the most skilled avian predators on the continent. From the widespread and adaptable Brown Goshawk to the striking white morph of the Grey Goshawk, and the critically rare Red Goshawk, these birds play vital roles in Australian ecosystems.
The Brown Goshawk: Australia's Suburban Hunter
Physical Description
The Brown Goshawk (Tachyspiza fasciata) is a medium-sized raptor that embodies the classic appearance of a woodland hunter. Adults display a brown head with slate-grey to brown upperparts, distinguished by a distinctive red-brown collar across the upper nape of the neck. The underparts are finely barred with red-brown and white, while the rounded wings are dark brown to grey above and buff to reddish brown below with darker wingtips.
The bird's long rounded tail is grey with dark bars, and its long yellow legs feature reddish brown feathering about the thighs. One of the most striking features is the bright yellow eye, which gives the bird an intense, focused appearance. Sexual dimorphism is evident in this species, with males being notably smaller than females.
Young Brown Goshawks can be distinguished by their grey-brown eyes and brown, streaky plumage. Several subspecies exist, with the northern subspecies, didimus, being generally smaller and paler than its southern counterparts.
Distribution and Habitat
The Brown Goshawk is found across Australia in suitable habitats and also occurs in New Guinea, the Lesser Sundas, New Caledonia and the New Hebrides. They inhabit most timbered habitats throughout their range. While the species is widespread, it maintains a secretive nature, often remaining hidden despite its relatively common status.
Northern populations tend to be sedentary, but southern birds exhibit nomadic behavior, with immature birds moving north when dispersing during the winter months. Young birds can disperse widely, with distances of up to 900 km not uncommon, as they search for and establish their own breeding territories.
Hunting Behavior and Diet
The Brown Goshawk is a master of ambush predation. They hunt stealthily from a low, concealed perch, using sudden, short bursts of speed to pounce onto prey, utilizing their long legs and clawed toes to reach out and strike. The bird will occasionally stalk or run along the ground after insects, demonstrating remarkable versatility in hunting techniques.
Brown Goshawks feed mainly on other medium-sized birds, while small mammals such as rats and rabbits are also taken. Rabbits are a particularly important prey item, along with birds, reptiles, insects, and occasionally carrion. Their prey ranges from small species like finches, pipits and fairy-wrens, right up to birds the size of domestic fowls and even large, aggressive birds such as currawongs and kookaburras.
Brown Goshawks are known to hunt for starlings and house sparrows by flying low over towns and suburban areas in the evenings, when these birds are returning to their roosts. This adaptation to urban environments has made them valuable in controlling introduced pest species. Prey items are taken back to a perch to be partially plucked (mammals, birds) and then eaten.
The main methods of catching prey include still-hunting, by which the goshawk waits on a hidden perch until prey comes within striking distance, and flying through undergrowth attempting to flush out small prey. Less frequently, goshawks will stoop on prey from above, or even chase small mammals on foot.
Breeding and Nesting
The Brown Goshawk builds its large stick nest on a horizontal limb of the tallest tree available, often near a waterway or at the edge of a forest. The nest is kept lined with fresh eucalypt leaves and may sometimes re-use an old raptor's nest.
Both parents defend the nest and surrounding territory aggressively, and established pairs will reuse the same area year after year, often using the same nest. The female incubates the eggs, with the male helping when she needs to leave the nest to feed. The male does the bulk of the hunting to feed the young, which remain dependent on their parents for up to three weeks after fledging.
Vocalizations
The Brown Goshawk's call is described as a loud, rising 'keek-keek-keek', along with a slow, drawn out 'ee-you-wick, ee-you-wick'. Females have deeper voices than males, another aspect of the sexual dimorphism in this species.
The Grey Goshawk: Australia's Remarkable White Raptor
Physical Characteristics
The Grey Goshawk is the largest Accipiter in Australia with an overall length between 40 and 55 cm and wing span of 70 to 110 cm. Female Grey Goshawks are almost twice as heavy as males, making sexual size dimorphism even more pronounced than in the Brown Goshawk.
This species exists in two distinct color morphs that make it one of Australia's most visually striking raptors. The white morphs of this species are the only birds of prey in the world to be entirely white. The white morph is entirely pure white with a black bill, bright orange-yellow cere, legs and feet, and a deep red iris.
The grey morph is light grey above with slightly darker wing-tips, while the underbody is white, closely barred pale-grey on the foreneck, breast and undertail. Grey and white goshawks interbreed freely and partner for life, breeding from July to December.
Distribution and Habitat
The grey goshawk is found along the coasts of northern, eastern and south-eastern Australia, Tasmania and rarely Western Australia. The grey morph predominates in jungle and subtropical rainforest while the white morph prevails in eucalypt forests.
Throughout its range the Grey Goshawk generally favours tall, wet forests, particularly in gullies, for roosting and hunting, depending on mature forests for breeding and rarely using forest regrowth less than 30 years old. They are also seen in woodlands, dry forests, wooded farmlands and suburban parks below altitudes of 500 m.
Hunting and Diet
Grey goshawks often seem to vary their prey selection opportunistically. For an Accipiter, they relatively often select mammals such as rabbits, possums, and bats, though the most frequent prey type are most often birds. Pigeons and parrots are a popular prey item.
Evidence shows females select larger prey than males, with males largely keeping to small to mid-sized passerines while females often prey on larger prey such as currawongs, gamebirds (including megapodes) and even herons. Evidence indicates that this species is less agile in the air and less skilled at twisting pursuits over the ground than co-occurring brown goshawks but, on the other hand, the grey species is more powerful and so select typically larger prey.
Conservation Status
The grey goshawk is listed as "threatened" on the Victorian Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988, and on the 2007 advisory list of threatened vertebrate fauna in Victoria, this species is listed as vulnerable.
The Red Goshawk: Australia's Rarest Bird of Prey
Physical Description and Identification
The Red Goshawk is an endemic bird of prey with a rufous-streaked body and a broad wingspan that can stretch well over a metre. They have large yellow feet, and talons designed to quickly subdue avian prey. This powerful hawk represents the pinnacle of Australian raptor evolution, specialized for taking large avian prey.
Distribution and Habitat
The Red Goshawk occurs across much of northern Australia, notably in the Kimberley, the Top End, Tiwi Islands and Cape York. Although never a common species, its range has greatly retracted in recent decades and the Red Goshawk is now considered Australia's rarest bird of prey.
These hawks inhabit riparian areas and eucalypt forests, with nest sites often located high in a large tree along a ridgeline close to permanent water. Red Goshawks prefer extensive areas of intact, tall open woodland that allows them to hunt under the canopy.
Diet and Hunting Behavior
Red Goshawks mainly eat medium to large birds, including species as large as Australian Brush-turkeys, Kookaburras, Tawny Frogmouths, Sulphur-crested Cockatoos and Rainbow Lorikeets, but they also take mammals, reptiles and insects. Their hunting range is impressive, with the birds covering vast distances in search of prey.
Breeding and Territory
Adult Red Goshawks appear to occupy territories throughout the year and breeding territories are traditionally used from year to year. Adults have large home ranges, estimated to be as great as about 120 km² for females and 200 km² for males. Birds lay clutches of 1-2 eggs between July and September.
Recent research has revealed remarkable dispersal patterns in juvenile Red Goshawks. A research team led by The University of Queensland found that juvenile red goshawks embark on long-haul flights from their breeding territories on Cape York Peninsula, with flights ending up to 1500km away in arid and semi-arid regions of the Northern Territory and western Queensland. These epic journeys can take months, and some birds have been tracked in flight reaching altitudes above 1000m.
Conservation Concerns
Red Goshawks need large areas of intact woodland with sufficiently abundant prey. Across much of its range, the key threats are habitat clearance and altered fire regimes which change the structure of woodlands, destroy nesting trees and/or reduce breeding success (nests can be abandoned after a hot fire), and reduce the availability of prey species.
Taxonomic Notes
The brown goshawk was formerly placed in the genus Accipiter but in 2024 a comprehensive molecular phylogenetic study confirmed that the genus was polyphyletic. To resolve the non-monophyly, Accipiter was divided into six genera, and the genus Tachyspiza was resurrected to accommodate the brown goshawk together with 26 other species.
Ecological Importance
Australian goshawks play crucial roles in their ecosystems as top predators. They help control populations of small mammals and birds, including introduced pest species that can damage native ecosystems. The Brown Goshawk, in particular, has adapted well to urban environments where it helps control populations of introduced species like starlings, sparrows, and common mynas.
Their presence in an area is often an indicator of ecosystem health, as they require abundant prey populations and suitable habitat for hunting and nesting. The decline of the Red Goshawk serves as a warning about the impacts of habitat loss and fragmentation on specialist predators that require large territories and abundant prey.
Interactions with Humans
Brown Goshawks have successfully adapted to human-modified landscapes and are sometimes seen hunting in suburban parks and gardens. However, this can occasionally lead to conflicts when they prey on pet birds in aviaries or free-range poultry. Simple protective measures like covering chicken runs with shade cloth or nylon netting can prevent such incidents while allowing these important predators to continue their ecological role.
For birdwatchers and nature enthusiasts, observing a goshawk hunt is a privilege that showcases the remarkable adaptations these birds have developed. Their stealth, explosive acceleration, and precision strikes demonstrate millions of years of evolutionary refinement.
Conclusion
Australia's three goshawk species represent different evolutionary strategies for aerial predation. The adaptable Brown Goshawk thrives across diverse habitats from rainforests to suburban gardens. The Grey Goshawk, with its spectacular white morph, haunts tall wet forests and represents one of nature's most striking color variations. The critically rare Red Goshawk, confined to northern Australia's remaining wilderness, reminds us of the fragility of specialist predators in a changing landscape.
Together, these magnificent raptors embody the power, grace, and adaptability of Australia's avian predators. Their conservation requires protecting the diverse habitats they depend on, from dense coastal forests to vast northern woodlands, ensuring these remarkable hunters continue to patrol Australian skies for generations to come.
