On my database I've 241 records (from many observers) of "brown goshawk"
in the City of Bayside, SE Melbourne and about 20 km from the Post
Office.
Records are generally scarce November to February, followed by an
increase in March and peak in April/May. So there may be a movement
associated with movement of honeyeaters? rather than post-breeding
dispersal.
Immatures are frequent but rarely do people stand over a claim of a male
Brown Goshawk. Prize to anyone who can tell me whether the immature bird
seen in Cheltenham Park in recent weeks is an immature sparrowhawk
rather than male goshawk (it has a notch in its tail and apparently long
toe - but could the notch (between rounded longer tail feathers) be a
plumage change?...
Best sighting was on 3/6/96 when I opened my front door in Hampton to
hear a thump. Looked up and there was a female on the backboard of the
basketball ring over our car port. The dead Spotted Turtledove on the
drive seems to have been driven into the backboard.
Sometimes we suspect they hunt in pairs with one bird making itself
obvious and the other lurking in the canopy of some of our bushland
reserves.
Michael Norris
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