[pct-l] Goshawks

[pmags at yahoo.com (Paul Magnanti)]

My one, and only truly scary encounter with an animal
was with a Goshawk in my wild, remote, homestate of 
Rhode Island. :-) That's right. I've hiked from 
Mexico to Canada, Georgia to Maine. Been in some of
the most remote parts of Utah, Wyoming and Colorado;
where do I get attacked by an animal? In Rhode
Island...the smallest and most congested state in the
country! :-D

In March or April of 1999 I was on a hike in one of
the prettiest parts of Rhode Island. The George
Washington Management Area. This area of Rhody is the
very, very (and I do mean very) edge of the
Appalachian foothills.  Located in the northwest
corner of the state it is an interesting place. Sea
level slowly gives away to the hills. Six-hundred feet
is not high by any standard but considering sea level
is a mere 45 minutes or so away, the transition is
abrupt. It is in this corner that you will find
coniferous trees and even a birch here or there. In
short it is a bit like hiking in Vermont.  Go twenty
minutes away and you are back in oak tree country. All
in all a neat place to hike because it is a
transitional zone at the extreme edge of the
Appalachians. 

What does this have to do with Goshawks? Well, being
the extreme edge of this type of terrain..it is also
the extreme edge of the Goshawk range! I am waking
along and I hear "Kah! Kah! Kah!". Look over my
shoulder and see these two birds I have never seen
before in my life. Quit cool. Looked at them for a bit
and continued along. 

As I hike along, I hear a WOOOSH behind me. Look over
my shoulder and see a branch going up and down, a bird
flying away and another one going "KAH! KAH! KAH!".

I pick up my pace and and hear the WOOSH sound again,
see the bird fly towards me and fly back. Again, more
KAH! KAH! KAH! sounds. At this point I am RUNNING with
my hiking stick being waved over my head.  I hear
another WOOSH sound that I swear to be inches from my
head. I do not look back this time. If I was bit
slower or a bit more stubborn, I suspect I may have a
story even more similar to Yogi's...

I went back to my Dad's house later that day and
looked in a book he had about North American birds. I
found the description of a goshawk and it fit to a
"T". Where I saw the goshawk was shown to be at the
extreme edge of their range. Online sources for the
Rhode Island Dept. of Environmental Management confirm
that while goshawks are not overly common in Rhode
Island, they have been show to be where I was.

And that is my goshawk story. The one time I am truly
scared that something may happen to me is in one of
the few patches of decent sized woods in Rhode Island.
Go figure! To heck with the wilds of Montana and
grizzly bear country...I'm going to avoid solo hiking
in Rhody! ;-)


More info on Goshawks:

http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/framlst/i3340id.html
http://tinyurl.com/3cl7
http://tinyurl.com/ystpe
--The above mentions a story similar to mine, except
in nearby Conn.





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The true harvest of my life is intangible.... a little stardust caught, a portion of the rainbow I have clutched
--Thoreau