Just to add a little more to the question about Chanting Goshawks, I
have had the pleasure of seeing and hearing a Dark Chanting Goshawk when
birding in Ethiopia. It has been described as a prolonged fluting chant or
high, loud, fluting 'wiooh wiooh wiooh wiorooh-wiorooh-wioh wioh wioh' (each
'wioh' sharply descending). Actually most of the time it is noted as being
silent. I can't confirm the description of the call, since when I heard it
I was standing under the tree and it raised the hair on the back of my neck.
It is a great looking bird and I enjoyed the view. The Pale Chanting
Goshawk gives a piping call which is heard most often during nesting.
Henry Gilmore
Vancouver, WA
hgilmore at uswest.net
----- Original Message -----
From: Robert Taylor <taylorrt at email.msn.com>
To: <Tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, February 23, 2000 8:21 PM
Subject: Re: chanting goshawks


> In response to Diann's comments on Chanting Goshawks, I just did a little
> look-up on the Chanting Goshawks in Handbook of the Birds of the World
> edited by de Hoya et al. They detail three species -- Dark, Eastern and
> Pale -- which seem to occupy dry brush areas with little overlap. I
> couldn't read all the preliminary text on Hawks, etc but did not note any
> reference to 'chanting' in a quick scan of about 50 pages. However, in
the
> general description accompanying the illustrations the following comments
> were made:
>
> Dark --- "Vocal, chanting from tree top before nesting."
>
> Eastern --- "Performs nocturnal communal aerial display with
calling
> on moonlit nights."
>
> Pale --- "Chants from prominent perch with tail spread."
>
> The 'chant' is never described (at least I didn't see the description).
> There is comment about Dark Chanting Goshawk of 'During breeding season, a
> melodius piping whee-pee-pee-pee from perch or in flight; also a
long-drawn,
> high-pitched klee-yeu.' mentioned in Birds of Kenya and Northern Tanzania
by
> Zimmerman et al. They also state that Eastern Pale Chanting Goshawk (Pale
> Chanting Goshawk) 'the calls are slightly lower-pitched.
>
> None of this sounds like Gregorian chants to me!!
>
>
> Bob Taylor
> Sumner, WA, USA
> taylorrt at msn.com
>
>
>
>