Fw: Brown Goshawks harrassing fruit bats – CentennialPark Sydney 2 April 2016

Hi Shirley,

The synchronised circling sounds like the typical autumn resurgence of
pairing and courtship/territorial behaviour in many raptors. I don’t recall
fruit bats in prey records for Brown Goshawks, but various large owls and
raptors eat them (including Red Goshawks), so maybe a hungry female Brown
Goshawk might try. Many raptors eat microbats, so it’s only a step up in
size to a fruit bat.

Goshawks will also harass other species in their breeding territory, so
maybe the action was territorial if the goshawks were interested in a
potential nest site in the trees.

Cheers,

Steve