Northern Goshawk
(Accipiter gentilis)

Overview

Summary

© Dick Cannings
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The Northern Goshawk is a diurnal raptor breeding in forested areas throughout Canada south of the treeline. Results from the Breeding Bird Survey and the Christmas Bird Count, considered together, suggest little overall change in the Canadian population relative to about 1970. The overall reliability of this assessment is considered to be medium because of incomplete coverage of the species' range. The subspecies Accipiter gentilis laingi, largely confined to Haida Gwaii and Vancouver Island, is listed as Threatened in Canada because of its small population and reliance on large tracts of older forest (COSEWIC 2013a). The latest population estimate for A. g. laingi is about 1000 mature individuals (about half the global population); this population is thought to be declining (COSEWIC 2013a). The more common and widespread subspecies A. g. atricapillus was assessed as Not at Risk in 1995 (COSEWIC 2013a). This species has been identified as a priority for conservation and/or stewardship in one or more Bird Conservation Region Strategies in Canada.

Designations

Population status

Population estimate

Distribution maps

• BirdLife International / NatureServe
• North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS): Relative Abundance and Breeding Distribution (1970-2016)

Migration strategy, occurrence

Responsibility for conservation

General nesting period in Canada

Conservation and management

The breeding populations and breeding success of Northern Goshawks across most of Canada are both linked to the 10-year population cycle in snowshoe hares. The hares, along with other species strongly affected by the hare cycle such as grouse and squirrels, are the primary prey of goshawks across the boreal forests of North America (Doyle and Smith 1994). Northern Goshawk breeding populations can be negatively affected by logging, especially harvest techniques that create large openings and fragmented forest (Squires and Reynolds 1997). The Haida Gwaii population (Accipiter gentilis laingi) has faced ongoing habitat loss along with prey declines due to over-browsing by an introduced deer population (Parks Canada Agency 2017). For information on the legal status of this species under the Species at Risk Act (SARA) and to view available recovery documents, see the SARA Registry.

Bird conservation region strategies

Environment and Climate Change Canada and partners have developed Bird Conservation Region Strategies in each of Canada’s Bird Conservation Regions (BCRs). In these strategies, selected species are identified as priorities for one or more of the following reasons:

• conservation concerns (i.e., species vulnerable due to population size, distribution, population trend, abundance, or threats)
• stewardship responsibilities (i.e., species that typify the regional avifauna or have a large proportion of their range or population in the sub-region)
• management concerns (i.e., species that require ongoing management because of their socio-economic importance as game species, or because of their impacts on other species or habitats)
• other concerns (i.e., species deemed a priority by regional experts for other reasons than those listed above or because they are listed as species at risk or concern at the provincial level)

Select any of the sub-regions below to view the BCR strategy for additional details.

References

• COSEWIC. 2013a. COSEWIC Assessment and Status Report on the Northern Goshawk Accipiter gentilis laingi in Canada. Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada. Ottawa. x + 56 pp. COSEWIC. 2013a. COSEWIC Assessment and Status Report on the Northern Goshawk Accipiter gentilis laingi in Canada. Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada. Ottawa. x + 56 pp. (Link)
• Doyle, F.I. and J.N.M. Smith. 1994. Population responses of Northern Goshawks to the 10-year cycle in numbers of snowshoe hares. Studies in Avian Biology 16:122-129.
• Farmer, C.J., L.J. Goodrich, E. Ruelas Inzunza, and J.P. Smith. 2008. Conservation status of North America's birds of prey. pp. 303-419 in: State of North America's Birds of Prey. K.L. Bildstein, J.P. Smith, E. Ruelas Inzunza, and R.R. Veit (Eds.). Nuttall Ornithological Club, Cambridge, MA, and American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C., USA.
• Parks Canada Agency. 2017. Recovery Strategy for the Northern Goshawk laingi subspecies (Accipiter gentilis laingi) in Canada [Proposed]. Species at Risk Act Recovery Strategy Series. Parks Canada Agency, Ottawa. 2 parts, 31 pp. + Appendices + 56 pp. Parks Canada Agency. 2017. Recovery Strategy for the Northern Goshawk laingi subspecies (Accipiter gentilis laingi) in Canada [Proposed]. Species at Risk Act Recovery Strategy Series. Parks Canada Agency, Ottawa. 2 parts, 31 pp. + Appendices + 56 pp. (Link)
• Squires, J.R. and R.T. Reynolds. 1997. Northern Goshawk (Accipiter gentilis), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Squires, J.R. and R.T. Reynolds. 1997. Northern Goshawk (Accipiter gentilis), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. (Link)