Population status

Northern Goshawk
(Accipiter gentilis)

The Northern Goshawk is not well monitored in Canada because it is an inconspicuous species and much of its breeding range is north of the area covered well by the Breeding Bird Survey. The best available data come from Christmas Bird Counts (CBC), since many birds move south in the winter to more populated areas in Canada and the United States where the CBC is conducted. The CBC suggests little overall change in the wintering population since about 1970. However, the CBC has limited representation of Northern Goshawk habitat in intact mature and old forest habitats and the species is hard to detect in winter when it is not vocalizing, thus the reliability of this assessment is considered low. The Breeding Bird Survey shows a moderate decrease in abundance over the same period, but coverage and precision of this survey are considered low. Targeted boreal forest surveys are likely needed to increase the reliability of population status assessment for this species. Currently, the species is best assessed as having shown little overall change since 1970.

Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) - Canadian analysis

Additional information on: Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) - Canadian analysis

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.
• 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)