White Goshawk

Very cool images Scott. To be correct, it's a white phase Grey Goshawk. There is also the grey phase, which you may (or may not) know. They are the same bird and often a grey and white breed together. Strange as it may be. :-) Keep up taking these nice shots mate. :-)

I keep looking at what it is he is holding in his talons. At first it looks as if it has little legs. But after close inspection of the second photo, I can clearly see, it is his "handbag". LOL M-L

Please excuse my naivete, windhover, but I've always been puzzled by phases in some birds but was too afraid to ask - until now.
The word "phase" suggests to me that a bird goes from one colour to another. E.g., in the case of the grey goshawk from white to grey or vice versa. But from what you've said & I've read in other places it seems that there are, e.g., some grey goshawks that are grey & others that are white & they never change colour. I'm wondering if at some future time the 2 colours will become 2 different species. It'll probably depend on genetics & I know even less about these.

Hi Woko,
I am not an ornithologist, or a geneticist, so I can only say what I have learned. The Grey Goshawk can be either grey or white. That's it. Each color morph is referred to as either a grey or white phase. Technically they are exactly the same species. A bit like people being Caucasian or Negro, or Asian or..... Same thing. White, Dark, tanned etc and can interbreed to produce fertile offspring. :)

Beautiful shots of a gorgeous bird! Love the translucency of those wings (against the blue sky as M-L said). There is certainly something angelic about it.