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6

Red Goshawk (Erythrotriorchis radiatus) Alternative name: "Rufous-bellied Buzzard" Size: 45-60 cm; wing span 1.1-1.35 m Weight: 610-660 g (male); 1.1-1.4 kg (female)

Australia: Family Group 6 Family Group 6 Table Osprey Brahminy Kite Whistling Kite Little Eagle Black Kite Square-tailed Kite Black-breasted Buzzard Wedge-tailed Eagle White-bellied Sea-Eagle Spotted Harrier Swamp Harrier Black-shouldered Kite Letter-winged Kite Pacific Baza Collared Sparrowhawk Brown Goshawk Grey Goshawk Red Goshawk Nankeen Kestrel Australian Hobby Peregrine Falcon Brown Falcon Grey Falcon Black Falcon Thumbnails page Family group table Index of bird names Habitat pages Key plants Birds home page

Description     Classification     Distribution     Sightings     Photos     Breeding     Nest     Eggs     Behaviour     Food     Call/s

Physical description Click here for a physical description Red Goshawks are relatively small raptors. They have a highly cryptic plumage. The female is much larger than the male. The head is greyish, heavily streaked with bown and rufous tints. The nape of the neck of both sexes shows a small crest. The front is greyish-rufous, with dark-brown streaks, while the back is dark-brown with rufous edge-lining. The wing feathers are mostly barred mid- to dark-grey, with rufous lining. The tail is barred mid- to dark-grey; the upper legs are covered with rufous feathers. Males have a richer-rufous breast and a paler-grey head than females. The eyes have yellow irises, those of females being deeper orange-yellow than those of males, which are paler yellow. The bill of both sexes is dark-grey with a light-grey cere; the legs are yellow, with black talons. "Raptors" (or "birds of prey"), most prominently, but also some species of waders, show a pronounced "dimorphism", i.e. a difference between male and female birds - not just in the appearance of the plumage, but in other, important properties, such as size or strength. Here we explain why.

Taxonomy, classification See Red Goshawk at Wikipedia .

Range, habitat, finding this species Click here for information on habitat and range The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org . The global distribution of the Red Goshawk is available HERE . Red Goshawks are endemic to the Australian continent. They are mostly found in the Top End of the NT, but occasionally also farther inland, from the Kimberley, WA, through the northern part of the NT, along the southern end of the Gulf of Carpentaria, throughout Cape York peninsula in QLD, down to a line connecting roughly Derby, WA, with Mt. Isa, QLD and Emerald, QLD. From there, their range extends to the South, along the QLD/NSW East coast and adjacent Great Dividing Range. On the coast, they go as far as the Hunter Wetlands NP, Newcastle, NSW, while inland they are found to about Coolah Tops NP, near Coolah, NSW. Although they have a preference for near-coastal forest, they are also found farther inland, in drier sclerophyll forest and woodland.

Sightings Click here for sighting information B. Hensen reports spotting a nesting pair of Red Goshawks at Bitter Springs, Mataranka, NT, in August 2006. H. Mouritsen reports finding a nesting pair of Red Goshawks near Gunlom Falls, Mary River, Kakadu NP, NT, in October 2015. B. Hensen also found a Red Goshawk on its nest in Kakadu NP, NT, in July 2018. P. Brown reports spotting a Red Goshawk near its nest in Litchfield NP, NT, in October 2020. Another was spotted at the same location, again at its nest, in September 2021.

Photos

ADULT

MALE

Male(?) Red Goshawk looking over its shoulder (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Bitter Springs, Mataranka, NT, August 2006]

FEMALE

Frontal view of a female Red Goshawk (photo courtesy of P. Brown)
[Litchfield NP, NT, September 2021]

Frontal view of a female(?) Red Goshawk on its nest (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Kakadu NP, NT, July 2018]

Near-lateral/ventral view of a female Red Goshawk (photo courtesy of P. Brown)
[Litchfield NP, NT, September 2021]

Near-lateral/ventral view of a female Red Goshawk issuing its call (photo courtesy of P. Brown)
[Litchfield NP, NT, September 2021]

Lateral view of a female Red Goshawk returning to its nest after having been fed by its partner (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Bitter Springs, Mataranka, NT, August 2006]

Dorsal view of a female Red Goshawk (photo courtesy of P. Brown)
[Litchfield NP, NT, September 2021]

IMMATURE/JUVENILE

Dorsal view of a Red Goshawk looking over its shoulder; the dark colour of the irises indicates that this is a juvenile
(photo courtesy of H. Mouritsen)
[Near Gunlom Falls, Mary River, Kakadu NP, NT, October 2015]

Dorsal view of a juvenile Red Goshawk (photo courtesy of H. Mouritsen)
[Near Gunlom Falls, Mary River, Kakadu NP, NT, October 2015]

Juvenile Red Goshawk at its nest (photo courtesy of H. Mouritsen)
[Near Gunlom Falls, Mary River, Kakadu NP, NT, October 2015]

Breeding information

Breeding season: May - Dec

Eggs: 1 - 2

Incubation period: 40-43 days

Fledging age: ca. 50 days

The breeding season of Red Goshawks depends on geographic latitude.

Nest building: ?

Incubation: Female

Dependent care: Female & male

Twitcher's tip

Note that, by the time they fledge (i.e., leave their nest), the young of all species of raptors - apart from the tail and wing feathers (which are still growing) - are already full adult-size.

For species of raptors with a pronounced size dimorphism between the sexes (the female is always bigger than the male), the obvious consequence is that a female near-fledging age chick already dwarfs not only any male siblings, but also its father.

Nest

"bungobittah", "lar", "malunna", "jindi" [bundjalung] = nest [Aboriginal]

Type: Basket

Material: Sticks, green leaves

Height above ground: >10? m

Note that, contrary to many other raptors' habits, Red Goshawks build their nests into live eucalypt trees, not dead ones.

Overview of a female(?) Red Goshawk on its nest (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Kakadu NP, NT, July 2018]

Overview of a juvenile Red Goshawk at its nest, which is characteristically placed in a major fork of a live eucalypt
(photo courtesy of H. Mouritsen)
[Near Gunlom Falls, Mary River, Kakadu NP, NT, October 2015]

Overview of the location of a Red Goshawk nest (photo courtesy of P. Brown)
[Litchfield NP, NT, September 2021]

Eggs

"boyanga", "booyanga", "derinya", "dirandil", "koomura", "mirk", "ngampu", "nooluk", "pateena", "pum-pum" = Egg; "dirundirri" = eggs [Aboriginal]; "gawu" = eggs [gamilaraay]

Size: 54 x 43 mm

Colour: Creamy/whitish

Shape: Rounded

Food, Diet

Red Goshawks take primarily other birds.

Call(s)/Song

For this species we have recorded the following call(s)/song. The interpretation of their meaning is our own; comments and suggestions for improvement are welcome.

redgosh_pb_20210901.m4a

(Top End, NT)

Soliciting calls (female)

© PB

More Red Goshawk sound recordings are available at xeno-canto.org .

These pages are largely based on our own observations and those of our contributors. The structure of these bird pages is explained HERE. For more salient facts on any bird species please refer to a field guide.

Would you like to contribute photos or sound recordings to this site? If interested, please CLICK HERE. Credits to contributors are given HERE.

Disclaimer: Comments are always welcome. We give no guarantee that the information presented on these pages is always correct or up-to-date. External links are marked as such and we take no responsibility for the contents of external pages. All images on this site are protected by copyright & used by permission of the respective owners. If you wish to reproduce them or any of the material presented on this web site, please contact us: We hereby acknowledge the original custodians of the land which is described on these pages, including the Gomeroi/Gamilaraay people of the North-west Slopes and Plains of NSW, and the traditional owners of other lands and nations within this country. We acknowledge elders past, present and emerging. Sovereignty was never ceded.          Last updated: Fri, 3 September 2021, 2:35 +00:00