Goshawks of Anacortes - part 1

When I first arrived on Puget Sound, I realized that NG were a common species in Anacortes and North Whidbey Island. That was in year 1999. This posting will include sightings from other areas, not to include Whidbey Island and Anacortes.


Firstly, NG in areas other than Anacortes and Whidbey Island.


In Bellingham: A male ripping through on Holly Street. In LaConner: Female from the sky, dropping into Shelter Bay. On another year— female dropping into Shelter Bay. In winter, a mature male in the sky. In Shelter Bay, late August, 2019, immature, female perched. Out of the truck I went with camera. Hawk went away from my position. Location: Enter Shelter Bay, LaConner. The first road to the right will dead- end at a container yard (rv. storage yard.)

Conway—female, immature, chased by 3 crows. Over Seattle. South of Tacoma, soaring over a field. Orcas Island. Lopez Island— mature female, over Paul Allen Estate. In the sky over Torrington. Male    NG circling low over Yakima River. With Skagit Audubon— Rasar State Park— in a light mist, female spiraling up out of trees. Ten seconds later, another female, spiraling upward; At Iverson Spit— male deep in sky, displaying; Port Susan Preserve— immature female dropping toward ground,  behind the dike. Padilla Bay Interpretive Center— mature female cutting through, one photo. Then ten days later, male cutting through, at same altitude, same direction. Bay View, Josh Wilson Road, female soaring; On another year, mature female soaring. Five daily sightings at Skagit Regional Airport. On D’Arcy Road, facing the Bay View ridge- line in winter — NG soaring. This area— Bay View is a large area— could be called a hot- spot for NG.

For six years I lived just outside the limits of Anacortes, at Pioneer Trails RV Park. Somewhat between Anacortes and Deception Pass. Often, I would drop off the ridge line to bird and hawk on Similk Bay. Only one sighting of NG; a red female at about 200 feet altitude cutting through. Many NG sightings on Gibraltar Road and in the sky near the RV park— also called Scimitar Ridge. NB.