Are northern goshawks able to move freely among all available habitat patches?
Goshawks appear to be able to move freely among habitat patches throughout Utah. Using a conservative estimate of 20 to 60 miles as the distances over which goshawks explore habitats annually, all patches of high value habitat are likely to be detected from one or more adjacent high value patches (map 9). In most cases, the patches are contiguous or separated by distances of less than 20 miles. The longest distance between patches occurs in southeastern Utah, where high value habitat in the La Sal and Abajo Mountains is more than 60 miles from the nearest high value habitat elsewhere in Utah. These areas are likely connected to habitat in Colorado. 4. Is the population viable at the State level? This assessment cannot answer the question of population viability directly because there are inadequate demographic data available. Most of the currently forested lands were rated as medium or high value for both nesting and foraging habitat. Where surveys have been conducted, goshawks are pre
