Off to kind of a late start as far as beginning a thread goes, but I'll do a little "catch-up" to get up to speed...

"Micro" is a 2013 Wisconsin NA goshawk (male). Although I've had a few other imprints, this is really my first attempt at doing the whole thing. I'm not an expert with imprints, nor with goshawks or other accipiters, so bear with me, lol...

The adventure started out in late February/early March heading up to northern Wisconsin with my son (Tanner) and a friend (Shao) to look for goshawk nests. Shao Lee and Aaron Allred have done this before of course, and Aaron in particular has done his best to pique my interest enough to try an imprint gos...

I live on a 400 acre Boy Scout camp (I'm the ranger) as one of my jobs, so have plenty of room for training and a ready access to lots of noisy scouts, tractors, saws, mowers, trucks, etc... All good things to help socialize a young bird!

We spent the last part of February, all of March, and a good chunk of April wading/snowshoeing through crotch-deep snow looking for nests, and managed to come up with several active nests and a bunch of older, unused ones. We also found some broadwing and red-shouldered nests just to keep things interesting.

I've got to say, it's a special thrill to come across a goshawk nest in the winter woods, and to see (or hear) evidence of recent activity nearby... It sure makes all the driving, walking, and searching worthwhile!

Nests, a plucking post (with a ruffed grouse foot), and a porcupine...