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Writer's pictureTakashi Iwamoto

"Urban Goshawk, Breeding Record" 21, First Flight

Updated: Aug 11, 2022

"The story of the goshawk, a bird of prey that has advanced into the city Tokyo Japan"


This blog introduces the life of a goshawk, a wild drama that unfolded in front of the caretaker in an urban park from July 2017 to December 2018.


By the end of June, the three large-grown chicks were almost gone in their nests.

The chicks are still likely to fly away.


 


By the end of June, the white feathers had completely fallen off, and the three young birds had grown to the same size as their parent birds.

The day of leaving the nest and the day of soaring in the sky seem to be just around the corner.

Even if you say fledging, you will be able to hunt yourself, and in order to become a full-fledged person, you still have to learn various things, so it will be a long way off.

Until then, it relies on the prey hunted by its parents.

Three young birds that have almost disappeared from the nest and have begun to explore the area around the nest by walking along the branches.

Parent birds sometimes bring their prey to their nests.

Instead of feeding by mouth as before, they throw their feathered prey into their nests and quickly go somewhere.

The prey brought in is eaten by a hand that is unfamiliar to the siblings. It seems that the order between the brothers is firmly decided, and it seems that three birds are eating in order without one bird monopolizing and eating.

There seems to be a sufficient amount of food, and it seems that the three birds are well distributed.

Of the three siblings, one is slightly larger and slightly darker than the other two.

Probably a female, but probably the first to hatch.

While this eldest daughter is eating food, the other brothers seem to have no choice but to wait silently for her sister to finish eating.


On the contrary, when her sister comes to the place where her eldest son is eating, she silently gives food.

My big and strong sister is likely to get stronger and stronger.

Introducing the other two brothers, the other is the sister who always follows this big sister, and the eldest son.

This eldest son is the smallest, fair and thin.

He sounds unhealthy, but that's not the case.

Anyway, I have a lot of curiosity. His voice is a little high compared to the other two.

For adult goshawks, females are one size larger than males, and males sing with a higher-pitched voice than females.

Due to its size and bark, the caretaker sees this slightly smaller chick as a male.

After all boys and girls, boys who are always alone even when playing.

It seems that his interests are completely different, and it doesn't seem interesting to be with his sister. When insects such as bees approach, they keep watching their movements. Anyway, they are interested in things around them and love to observe them carefully, like science.


Are the other two birds more dumplings than flowers? When a bee approaches, he tries to eat it, saying "It's a hindrance!", Or drives him away. I don't observe much.



Exploring the area around the nest along the branches, looking forward to the parent birds bringing their prey June 30



Hina who can't fly in the sky yet. I think I'm physically ready to fly, but I don't think I'm ready yet.

All my brothers want to go for a walk farther. If you go far away, there is a danger that you will miss the food when the parent bird, who does not know when and when it will return, carries food.

So, I don't care about the nest and don't go too far, especially the eldest son, who has a small body, doesn't leave the nest very much.

Anyway, it seems that she is planning to eat a lot of food before her sister comes home.

On the contrary, she doesn't care if her eldest daughter can always steal food from her brother, and she always goes for a walk farther than the other two.


Flapping on the branches, it seems ready to fly at any time, the rest is mental preparation July 3rd

A young bird that seems to fly away even now. It was also a good idea to explore the area around the nest along the branches and walk on the branches.

It's not just going out for a walk, it seems to have an important meaning of properly developing a sense of balance and strengthening the muscles of the legs.

While fluttering in this way, I think he is fluttering while thinking about the fact that he can fly freely in the sky like a father or mother in his head.


Mother bird bathed for the first time in a while July 3



Perhaps I was relieved to see that all three chicks had grown safely and were ready to fly, and on this day the mother bird bathed for the first time in a while.


This is the most vulnerable moment when even goshawks get their feathers wet, which is probably the most vulnerable moment for their mothers since they bathed before incubation.

And the next day, when I went to the park earlier than usual after 4 o'clock


The young birds were flying in the sky during the dark hours, July 4th.

In the dark hours before sunrise, the young birds had already taken off into a new world.

This is the first flight I've seen, but it's quite upside down.


The electric wire that stops for the first time is hard to balance ~

It's an electric wire that hasn't stopped before, maybe it stopped as a tree branch, it swings forward and backward, so it's unbalanced.

I keep struggling to get the balance, but the more I struggle, the more the balance gets out of order.

It's not balanced, so even if you want to fly, it's hard to fly!

I kept struggling for almost 2 minutes in this style.

The other two also follow

Three young birds that have set foot in the wide world, step by step toward becoming independent, and their brothers will learn a lot.


to be continued




* The caretaker sees two of the three chicks as female and one as male. It is a guess based on the caretaker's own observation and experience.

The growth of the chicks is also summarized in the video Goshawk, Breeding Record 2018, so if you look at that, you can see the progress so far.


 

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