The Northern Goshawk is a powerful predator of northern and mountain woods. This hawk is the bigger, fiercer, wilder relative of the Sharp-shinned and Cooper’s Hawks. It’s an accipiter—a type of hawk with short, broad wings and a long rudderlike tail that give it terrific speed and aerial agility. Inside and on the perimeter of coniferous and mixed forests, they hunt grouses, crows, small birds, squirrels, rabbits, snowshoe hares, small rodents, snakes, and insects. With short surges of amazingly fast flight, they attack their prey, often weaving through branches and crashing through thickets. The Northern Goshawk is the most widely distributed Accipiter (hawk) in the world. A denizen of mature forested regions, the species inhabits boreal and temperate forests in North America, Europe, northwestern Africa, continental Asia, and Japan. In North America, goshawks occur in Canada, the northern United States (including much of Alaska), the mountainous western United States, and northwestern Mexico. Northern Goshawks are powerful raptors about the size of Red-tailed Hawks. Set in the Catskill Mountains of New York State, background elements of this image were derived from a 19th-century Hudson River School painting by American artist, Asher B Durand. “Goshawk in Pursuit,” is a hand-painted digital image and photo composite created in Spadecaller’s Florida Studio on 3/8/2023.