2018: several hawks showing but no breeding yet
Some will recall the fascinating images available for the past couple of years from the webcam at a Goshawk nest in Riga, Latvia. Last year the breeding pair could be seen visiting the nest from January onward, with the first egg laid on 24 March 2017 and young fledging in summer, but events so far this year have been very different.
So far as I can tell (there were technical problems with the camera in early March) the adult female of 2016 and 2017 ("Margo") has not appeared, and although at least four (!) different goshawks have been at the nest, there is not yet an obvious breeding pair or established breeding attempt.
Two different hawks dropped in on 20 March: a ringed bird (C55) still in mainly juvenile streaked plumage, evidently a 2 cy male, and a second similar streaked young bird but not with a ring. On the 22nd another ringed bird (C31) appeared, with strong 'anchor-shaped' marks on the breast feathers. On the 23rd another hawk, a darker blue-grey dorsally, appeared. Two hawks could be glimpsed briefly in flight near the nest tree on the 23rd and 24th.
It's great that there seems to be no shortage of young goshawks in the area, but unfortunate that the previous adult female seems to have moved or may be dead. Without an experienced adult female perhaps is it getting a little late to hope for a breeding attempt at this nest in 2018? It will be instructive to see how events develop in the near future.
Curiously, a week or so ago (15-19 March) there was no sign of any Goshawk activity at the nest site in the Apennines I try to keep a distant eye on (short note a few days ago on my blog) but I'm really hoping it's not too late for a breeding attempt.
The live webcam feed this year is at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=An-ZCD3M8G0. The discussion forum is at:
https://forums.dabasdati.lv/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=3855. The English language forum is at:
http://www.looduskalender.ee/forum/viewtopic.php?f=100&t=794, but this so far has fewer images and far fewer comments.