Releasing swift keck-keck-keck cries that echoed through a downtown Berlin green space, the large hawks soared far over the treetops and wheeled before swooping downwards to scatter a disorganized flock of black birds that had started to mob them.
"They are basically a soaring superhero bringing law and order to the city," stated a wildlife expert, watching the large light-breasted birds through a telescope. "They're akin to stealth bombers."
The Accipiter gentilis is an top predator – and experts aspire it will soon deliver awe and joy to British cities, mirroring its success in German urban areas. In the United Kingdom, this fast-moving bird of prey was persecuted to near extinction and only started to recover in countryside areas during the mid-20th century. It remains commonly targeted on private lands and hunting grounds.
Thriving in Continental Capitals
In other parts of Europe, the goshawk is thriving – even in busy cities such as the German capital, the Dutch capital, and Prague. From a public garden in the city, where a large eyrie rested in the top of a tree under 100 metres from a monument, the elusive hunter hunts city birds in the streets and even rests on rooftops.
The raptors have adapted to busy vehicle flow – although tall glass buildings still present a danger – and are much more at ease with the steady stream of pet owners, joggers, and schoolchildren than their forest-dwelling relatives would be with people.
"This is just like any park in the UK, that's the magical thing," said the director of a rewilding initiative, which aims to introduce goshawks to Chester and London in the first stage of a project introducing them to cities. "It demonstrates this can be done quickly – without difficulty, but with so much excitement."
Assisted Colonisation Plan
The conservationist is preparing to present a application for the "urban reintroduction" of the goshawk to the authorities in the coming weeks; the plan foresees the release of 15 birds in both of the two cities, obtained as juveniles from natural European eyries and UK aviaries.
He expects they will come to the rescue of the UK's beleaguered songbirds by preying on mid-sized predators such as crows, black-and-white birds, and jackdaws, whose numbers have grown unchecked and threatened birds further down the food chain.
Their arrival should have an immediate effect on the "brazen" mid-sized birds that attack tiny species that people love, explains the scientist, pointing to a comparable phenomenon observed in wolves. "This is what's known as an landscape of fear. Everybody realizes the apex predators are in town."
Potential Challenges and Risks
Rewilding projects throughout Europe have encountered fierce opposition from agricultural workers and activist factions in recent years, as big carnivores such as wolves and ursines have come back to territories now inhabited by people. As their populations have grown, they have started to consume livestock and in some cases attack humans.
The introduction of the goshawk into city Britain is not expected to trigger a comparable backlash – the species currently reside in different parts of the country, and animal guardians and city residents have little to worry about from them – but the bird has created tensions even in cities it has inhabited for years.
In Berlin, where an approximate 100 mated couples represent the largest concentration in the globe, and additional German towns, goshawks have become the target of bird fanciers whose animals are being consumed.
A researcher who has studied raptor adaptation to city settings used GPS transmitters to follow 60 birds as part of her doctorate, and states that while there could be potential benefits from employing these predators to regulate mesopredators in UK urban areas, young birds removed from countryside homes may struggle to adapt to city life and emphasized the need to involve all interested parties early on. "In general, it's a risky business."
Scientific Opinions
An ornithologist who has examined goshawk behaviour in non-urban Britain said it was uncertain if the raptors would choose to stay in urban environments and unlikely that the suggested quantity would be enough to have a noticeable beneficial impact on backyard species populations. "What is the fate of those 15 birds?" he asked. "I suspect is they'll probably scatter into the nearest countryside."
The project leader is nonetheless optimistic about the initiative's prospects. The expert, who has previously been granted a licence to track the Highland tiger and was a scientific consultant for a program that brought the large bird back to the UK, contends that handling releases in a "humane way" is the essential element to achievement.
Past Rewilding Efforts
The expert's first effort to bring back wild cats to the United Kingdom was refused by the environment official on the recommendation of the nature body in recent years. A preliminary proposal for a trial release has also met resistance, even though the head of the nature organization lately expressed interest about the prospect of releasing the feline predator during his two-year term.
If the hawk initiative goes ahead, the birds will be equipped with GPS devices – an task expected to represent almost 50% of the projected project cost of £110,000 – and be given a steady source of nourishment for as long as is required after being released. In the German city, the conservationist highlighted the psychological advantage of urban residents being able to spot a predator as elusive as the raptor while they conduct their daily routines, rather than placing rewilding schemes exclusively in rural locations.
"It'll bring such thrill," he declared. "People visit the park to feed birds. In the future they'll be going to see goshawks."
