This video clip from Epsiode 3 of the BBC series The Animal’s Guide to Britain looks at the flying ability of a top woodland predator called a goshawk.
source/image: BBC
Using high-speed photography, Chris Packham demonstrates how these impressive raptors twist and turn in flight to negotiate dense thicket—which helps them navigate the forests that they like to inhabit in Britain.
Its wings are noticeably broader and neck longer than a sparrowhawk’s, giving it more of a cross shape in flight compared with the sparrowhawk’s “T” shape.The body is bulky and barrel-like with broad leg feathers, and the wingbeats are slower, the flight more direct, more purposeful than a sparrowhawk’s.
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The goshawk is a large hawk, almost reaching buzzard size. When up close it has a fierce expression with bright red eyes and a distinctive white eyebrow. Its broad wings enable it to hunt at high speed, weaving in and out of trees, and its long legs and talons can catch its prey in flight.
