Cercei
Northern Goshawk Ambassador
Female
2011 / Juvenile
Fractured right wing
About Cercei
The veterinarian who brought Cercei to Liberty Wildlife had kept the injured bird until the wing healed. Our medical examination found that the left wing also had damage and there was severe feather damage to both healed wings. Determination of her flight abilities had to be delayed for a year until new feathers came in following the annual molt. During the subsequent flight testing, Cercei still was unable to fly any distance. Additional x-rays showed that during the year, both right wing and left wings had changes to the bone structures. Despite physical therapy, the anomalies continued to limit the extension of her wings, allowing her to fly only short distances. Non-releasable now, Cercei was reassigned to the education team.
Description
In addition to being North America’s largest accipiter, the northern goshawk is the most widely distributed accipiter in the world. They are found throughout the mountains and forests of NorthAmerica and Eurasia.
Life Span
The oldest known northern goshawk was at least 17 years, 7 months old, based on banding records from Michigan. One review reports a captive northern goshawk living 19 years.
Prey / Food
The goshawk is a powerful hunter capable of killing an extremely wide variety of birds and mammals of varying sizes. Depending on where they live, prey species include mice, shrews, chipmunks, jackrabbits, squirrels, raccoons, foxes, geese, doves, woodpeckers, and crows. Known as a predator of other birds of prey, northern goshawks have been documented hunting red-tailed hawks, owls, and kestrels.
Babies / Nests
Northern goshawks usually choose the largest trees in a stand for nest sites, placing the nest next to the trunk on a large horizontal branch or in a primary or secondary crotch. Goshawks often re-use nests from previous years or appropriate nests of other accipiters. They are monogamous, and pairs typically lay a single clutch of three to four eggs each year. The incubation period lasts 35 to 38 days and young goshawks fledge when they are 36 to 42 days old.
Native American Folklore
Native peoples throughout north America, consider Hawk as an important symbol of wisdom, courage, strength and freedom. Hawk appears in Native stories, dances, and ceremonies as a messenger from the spirit world, moving between the Creator and humankind, conveying wisdom and warnings from above. Like Hawk soaring overhead, the Creator watches over the world below and communicates through winged messengers.
Hawk’s most celebrated attribute among Native people is his mastery of flight. Seeing Hawk slowly circling overhead signals a time for reflection, to acknowledge the Creator’s presence and seek higher guidance. The hunting Hawk teaches that patience is the pathway to enlightenment.
Hawk’s incredibly sharp eyesight symbolizes the wisdom that allows Hawk the ability to foresee events and opportunities that others cannot. Hawk uses his powerful eyesight to gain perceptive knowledge.
Stories depicting Hawk’s sharp eyesight are common in Native folklore. In one Cherokee story, Hawk warns villagers of impending danger approaching from afar that no one else could see. Hawk’s vigilance and vision saved the tribe, emphasizing the values of foresight and preparedness.
Natives use Hawk in their religious rituals as he possesses the power and strength to carry prayers to the Creator. Elders smoke ceremonial pipes toward the sky to send tobacco smoke up to messengers like Hawk.
Hawk is a symbol of physical power and authority equivalent to chiefs and warriors. Hawk’s sharp talons and beak evolved for hunting. Braves wear hawk talons and feathers to invoke the bird’s swiftness and predatory capabilities. In ledger drawings, braves are often depicted with hawk talons and feathers to show their status as mighty warriors.
Navajo people believe that Hawk is the companion of the sun, and his flight patterns across the sky represent sunshine spreading across the earth.
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