Gos Head Study

[Saluqi]

I thought with all the pics of gosses out there it would cool to put some head shots:

Here are one each of my male (7 yr old imprint from NM) and my female (2 yr old imprint from NM). Maybe Lee, Chuck and Jim will post their pics too, and anyone else.

Notice the difference in the width of their supercillary (sp?) stripes, and the color difference too.

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa198/Gos_Frieda/DSC_0178.jpg



http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa198/Gos_Frieda/DSC_0162.jpg

[tumble]

Hi everyone, I've got two goshawks and you don't.

;)

[raptrlvr]

Don't know how old this female is, but, here is a head shot.
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z74/raptrlvr/DSC_0001A-21.jpg

[Saluqi]

Very cool, Jim's bird's mama is very much similar to my males looks, though her eye color appears paler, that could just be the light.

[zx2run]

Here's a photo of my sponsor's passage Gos. This year was its second season. The photo was taken my RTJim.

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm92/zx2un/Gos-2.jpg

[tumble]

Paul, since both of your goshawks are from New Mexico do you think that if they were both 7 years old their eyes would be closer in color? Or is it more random than that? I've heard it said that the goshawks here in Maine vary in phase from the northern part of the state to the southern half.

[Saluqi]

Paul, since both of your goshawks are from New Mexico do you think that if they were both 7 years old their eyes would be closer in color? Or is it more random than that? I've heard it said that the goshawks here in Maine vary in phase from the northern part of the state to the southern half.

I think her eyes will continue to darken until they're like hers. Lou's eyes were orange in his second year just like hers. I think it's interesting that the gos in Jim's pics have the paler browner eyes, both of my gosses came from nests just a few miles from Jim's.

[PeteJ]

Eye color has a lot to do with genetics and diet. I was at a Raptor Research conference once and someone was going to give a presentation on "The use of eye color in Goshawks to determine age." I happened to have some pics of some of my goshawks with me and showed them to this person. He ended up having to modify his speech just a bit!LOL I've seen pictures of goshawks that were many years old that still had gray eyes (the ultimate 'Gray Ghost'), some with mahogany, some with red, some with close to black, and depending on age, some with gray, some with green, some with orange, some with reddish orange.
These first three pics are of the same bird in year one, two and 16 (a female from northern Maine originally).
http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff174/petej1956/immfemaleMaineGos.jpg
http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff174/petej1956/2ndyearfemaleMainegos.jpg
http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff174/petej1956/16yrMainefemaleGos.jpg

[PeteJ]

The next pic is her daughter at 3 years old, followed by a pic of her father at 7 years old (he originated in Utah).
http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff174/petej1956/3rdyrfemaledaughter.jpg
http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff174/petej1956/7yearoldtiercel.jpg

[tumble]

These first three pics are of the same bird in year one, two and 16 (a female from northern Maine originally).

Hi Pete, I'm a Mainer myself. That's not Scott K's old bird is it?

[tumble]

The next pic is her daughter at 3 years old, followed by a pic of her father at 7 years old (he originated in Utah).

Daughter's eyes seem pretty brown compared to her parents.

[PeteJ]

Hi Pete, I'm a Mainer myself. That's not Scott K's old bird is it?
Nope, but it might be her sister. I know they pulled two from that particular nest and I got one and the other went to someone else, but it seems like it might have ended up with Scott later on. They were peas in a pod, both abnormally dark in their second year plumage and both were excellent goshawks. Great genetics. I remember that their parents kept him face down on the ground for like 20 minutes when he went to take them. They were quite bold and even tempered birds to handle. I had her for 17 years before I lost her one day.

[PeteJ]

Daughter's eyes seem pretty brown compared to her parents.
Both her and her mother got barely an slight orange glow to their light green eye before they went to sort of a brown. I had always wished her eye would go red but it never even hinted at it. She made up for it by being a nice bird to handle and was quite large for an Am. Gos. Here's a pic of her on the fist when she was about 7 years old. Below it I found another pic of my tiercel from last year in his 14th season.
http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff174/petej1956/DorianandMe1992.jpg
http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff174/petej1956/Utahyr14.jpg

[tumble]

Great stuff, Pete (well, except for the losing your goshawk bit). Thanks for the photos and details.

[wingnut]

http://i599.photobucket.com/albums/tt72/dwin1019/GosOnPost.jpg

This is my male gos at 3 years that I took from the Black Hills. His eyes got red/orange his second year and as you can see, red by the third year. I flew a female gos from the Hills for 12 years prior to him but her eyes never got that red. They were taken from different nest sites.

[Rage]

I really hope Reigns eyes get as red as some of you guys have in your birds. Here is one for this first year, first moult.

http://i425.photobucket.com/albums/pp331/HawkingRage/Reign4-28-09.jpg

http://i425.photobucket.com/albums/pp331/HawkingRage/Reign/ReignRelaxing.jpg

[Lee Slikkers]

2007 imprint female NA Gos

http://i590.photobucket.com/albums/ss345/LeeSlikkersII/5_08_09019.jpg

http://i590.photobucket.com/albums/ss345/LeeSlikkersII/5_08_09013.jpg

http://i590.photobucket.com/albums/ss345/LeeSlikkersII/5_08_09014.jpg

http://i590.photobucket.com/albums/ss345/LeeSlikkersII/5_08_09015.jpg

[Lee Slikkers]

Paul, this may be picture overload but here is a few shots at different angles from my lunch visit with "her" today (still haven't settled on a name)

http://i590.photobucket.com/albums/ss345/LeeSlikkersII/Gos/5_11_09005.jpg
http://i590.photobucket.com/albums/ss345/LeeSlikkersII/Gos/5_11_09006.jpg
http://i590.photobucket.com/albums/ss345/LeeSlikkersII/Gos/5_11_09011.jpg
http://i590.photobucket.com/albums/ss345/LeeSlikkersII/Gos/5_11_09012.jpg
http://i590.photobucket.com/albums/ss345/LeeSlikkersII/Gos/5_11_09013.jpg
http://i590.photobucket.com/albums/ss345/LeeSlikkersII/Gos/5_11_09015.jpg
http://i590.photobucket.com/albums/ss345/LeeSlikkersII/Gos/5_11_09018.jpg
http://i590.photobucket.com/albums/ss345/LeeSlikkersII/Gos/5_11_09020.jpg
http://i590.photobucket.com/albums/ss345/LeeSlikkersII/Gos/5_11_09022.jpg

[tumble]

Beautiful head shots, Lee.