Gascon Point(above), and the pool where the goshawk was bathing.
January 13, 2011 - Gascon, Mora County, NM with J. Klingel
Snowshoeing up along the Rito de Gascon on a January morning, who would have known that we could be disturbing the bath of a goshawk.
What I first saw was a frantic beating of big gray wings as the large bird flailed its way up from the bottom of the draw to a log where it perched briefly, then flew up to the rim of the bench. It looked disheveled and bulky with its feathers fluffed out. I had just been thinking of goshawks. There was something about this spot that brought them to mind and I think Jon and I had just been talking about them. After a few seconds while I reached for my camera, it flew back to the south, landed briefly in a large Douglas fir or Englemann spruce, and then flew through the trees and out of sight.
At first I thought we had interrupted its hunt or meal, but when I found the places it landed on a snow-covered log and the ground, there was no evidence of prey remains or blood. Further searching showed me that it had been bathing in an open pool in the small creek. That’s why it had looked frantic and disheveled. We had disturbed its bath, and it was trying to shake the water out of its wings as it flew from one spot to another. I could see its wing feathers impressions in the snow where it flew up from the pool.
From its large size I judged it to be a female.
We were both struck by how lucky we were to see this quintessential top predator of the forest, especially while engaged in such a “personal” activity, as if we had entered her private chambers without an invitation.
Two years ago while conducting Goshawk surveys for Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory, I saw one high above the headwaters of Sapello Creek, about 10 miles south of here.
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