A broad-winged hawk that flies swiftly between trees. In Britain it lives in woodland and is often hard to see.
Adults show a white eyebrow stripe and a barred white chest. Young birds are brown, with vertical streaks on the breast.
The Eurasian Goshawk also breeds in large German cities. From 2014 to 2016, researchers examined 196 nests with 544 nestlings across 133 territories in three urban areas—Berlin, Cologne and Hamburg—and four rural areas. In the 2016 diet sample, pigeons and doves made up 65.4% of prey items recorded in cities, compared with 35.7% in rural areas. Urban females laid their first eggs an average of 12.5 days earlier. Nests with three or more nestlings were more common in cities, but the difference disappeared after laying date was included in the analysis.
Urban goshawks also faced collisions and infection. Among the urban carcasses collected from 1998 to 2017, window collisions were recorded as the cause of death for 50 of 151 birds (33.1%). Of 542 nestlings tested, the parasite that causes trichomonosis was detected in 160 of 285 urban nestlings (56.1%) and 67 of 257 rural nestlings (26.1%); the adjusted habitat effect was not statistically significant. The researchers recommend preserving tall nesting trees and parks or cemeteries with nearby woodland and open land.
IUCN Red List · Least Concern (LC) · Global (former combined North American and Eurasian taxon)
The IUCN's 2021 global assessment rated the former combined Eurasian and North American goshawk taxon Least Concern (LC), with its population trend unknown. A 2026 genomic study supports treating the Eurasian and North American goshawks as separate species and calls for separate conservation assessments. The 2021 LC category therefore belongs to the pre-split taxon.