The African Goshawk (Accipiter Tachiro) is no stranger to the Londolozi Village. This incredible bird of prey is known for its agility, speed, and keen hunting skills. And there is a monogamous, territorial pair that reside in and around the Londolozi Camps that have frequented this area for years.
An impressive, adult African Goshawk perches momentarily in a tree in Camp.
One morning, on the rare occasion of having a morning at home rather than being out on game drive, I was having a cup of coffee when the incessant call of a juvenile African Goshawk caught my attention. Having a look out the window, I spotted it perched on a nearby, low-hanging branch feeding on the remains of a tree squirrel. After some time observing, I realized that this was not the individual incessantly calling, and spotted another TWO juveniles a little further away perched deeper in the bushes – as if impatiently calling to their sibling to share some of its food.
I quickly grabbed my camera, and binoculars and got comfortable next to my window to watch the scene unfold between these three juvenile African Goshawks.
Juveniles display a brown upper body with white underparts and flanks, marked with bold brown blotches.
African Goshawks are ambush predators and can capture prey up to the size of hornbills or francolins, as well as small mammals, lizards, and occasionally invertebrates. From what I could gather here based on the remains of a bushy tail, it looked like it was feeding on a tree squirrel.
From our bedroom window. Tough to see but there are two goshawks in this image. We’ve had hyena, nyala, bushbuck, warthog, rock monitors and plenty of birds spotted outside this window – but this morning’s event was definitely the most interesting.
One of the goshawks was calling from the outer edge of the thicket. I looped around on the camp pathway to see one of them perched on an aloe plant.
As its siblings would fly by or attempt to get closer to this one with food, it would mantle. To “mantle” refers to when a raptor spreads its wings and haunches over its prey, hiding it as a way to prevent other raptors or animals from seeing and stealing their food.
An impatient sibling scans the ground below the branch for any bits of fallen food.
Impressive mantling display, showing off its beautiful bold plumage. After about a year they begin to evolve into their adult plumage.
Even after the prey had been completely consumed, I kept spotting the goshawks from our window throughout the day.
After about a month of incubation by their mother, where the male brings food to the female while she incubates the eggs, the chicks are born completely altricial. Another 35 days after hatching, the nestlings are ready to fly from the nest. However, they tend to stay within the vicinity of their parents for a further two/three months before they are able to completely survive on their own. I presume one of them would have killed this prey itself, already building independence from its mother (however, I’ll never be completely sure I just never saw their mother in the area that morning).
I’ve included some video content below too. Such a cool, unique thing to witness right outside our window!
Wow really good images especially at the low shutter speeds and high ISO. Well done!
Very cool, Kate. Thank you for the video.
Typical siblings! Very cool! (I admit to becoming a ‘birder’ of sorts so loving the bird blogs)!
What a wonderful (and convenient) sighting! Birds of prey are so fun to watch. I love that you got shots of the mantling behavior—very cool.
Hi Kate, thanks for these beautiful images of the Goshawks. You are so privileged to see these amazing animals and birds right there by your bedroom window. The Goshawks will be there for a while I suppose before they fly away. Beautiful image as the hawk with the mangling display.
A great blog, Kate. What a wonderful view from your window. It is so interesting to watch birds, especially young ones to grow up.
What a special morning you enjoyed Kate as evidenced by your images and video. The juveniles coloration is stunning with the brown blotches on their white breasts in addition to their golden eyes. I think the best part is that you were able to watch and record their behavior from your window, as a voyeur so to speak, the Goshawks completely unaware.
Amazing! Just a peek out of the window something incredible awaits you.
So fascinating Kate, and what a privilege to witness right outside your window. Love the shots of the mantling.
What a fun sighting! And I’ve never seen the mantling behavior before. I’d sure love to see such sights out MY window!