Nesting is work!

I’ve seen at least four Red-shouldered Hawk nests under construction this week. Most will probably be false starts, abandoned for one reason or another. Some not well supported by the tree, some too public, some, well, who knows? Certainly the hawks do.

This morning I saw two hawks building a nest in some pines, just off the path. I think it’s a very public spot, so I don’t have much hope they’ll stay. But they are certainly busy gathering twigs and sticks. They’re opportunists and will often take useful-looking branches from squirrels nests. Other times they’ll hang and swing acrobatically while trying to pull a twig off of a tree.

I like these images because they show the birds in action, with the raw materials right in front of them.