In my recent post about this hawk carrying large pieces of nesting material to the nest blog follower Lyle Anderson made the following observation in a comment: “In the first photo it looks like he pulled an entire dead plant from the ground. I could use a hawk like that in my yard right now.”.
Lyle’s comment was the inspiration for today’s post.
I hadn’t planned on publishing this series of photos because of their mediocre (at best) quality. I was far away from the bird so these shots have been drastically cropped and in several of them my camera (not me this time) screwed up the exposure which I had to try to remedy during processing and it shows.
But Lyle’s comment inspired me to review this series again and I was so impressed by the hard work and determination of the hawk I decided to document his almost heroic efforts at gathering this particular piece of nesting material.
This is the male of the pair of Red-tailed Hawks I photographed three days ago. When it comes to gathering nesting material he might be the hardest working raptor I’ve ever photographed. He was tireless in his efforts as his less-than-ambitious mate spent most of her time perched on nearby rocks watching him as he worked.
Here he’s chosen a twig that turned out to be still attached to the bush it grew from.
So he attempted to break it off by lifting it, apparently hoping that it would detach from the rest of the larger branch.
When that didn’t work he tried pulling it away.
But it just wouldn’t come off of the larger branch it was attached to so he…
gave it every ounce of strength he had in this herculean effort to detach the twig. I can’t imagine a better pose than this for demonstrating how hard he was trying.
But in the end the twig didn’t break off of the smaller branch, instead the entire branch broke off and pulled away from the rest of the bush.
I doubt that was his intention and for a few moments he just stood there with the entire “tree” in his bill as if he was wondering “How in the hell did I get this monster and what am I going to do with it?”
In the end I don’t know for sure how all this turned out because immediately after this shot was taken I turned my lens to his mate who was perched nearby. My guess is that he abandoned this huge branch because it was too big, too unwieldy to fly with or wouldn’t make good construction material, even if he did manage to get it to the nest.
All I know for fact is that two minutes after the previous photo was taken he was on his way to the nest with this much smaller piece of nesting material. I suppose it’s possible that he removed this piece from the larger branch in the previous photos but I suspect that he abandoned that branch altogether and found another piece elsewhere.
This is the kind of activity he was involved in for the entire time I was with him. He made many trips to the nest while his mate mostly just watched.
I’ll bet he was plumb tuckered out by mid-morning so I hope he got some rest after I left the area.
Ron
Correction, the hawk I saw was a red-shouldered, I seem to be suffering from raptor dyslexia or general confusion of some sort…
This is a truly fantastic series. What a fun and interesting telling and showing. Such determination.
I guess there’s a lot that goes on that we don’t see or even have a clue about the complexities raptors and birds can face in a day.
About a month ago I watched a red-tailed hawk working at detaching a small branch from a eucalyptus tree for nest building. Eucalyptus wood has very tenacious grain and doesn’t give in easily. So after working on this small branch for several minutes, the hawk hopped straight up from her perch with the branch still held tightly in her beak and then boomeranged straight down and kind of jerked her head and neck and neatly snapped that branch clean off from the tree. She promptly flew confidently away to add to her nest. It looked like a very practiced move to me. Fascinating to watch.
Oh my gosh. What a wonderful series. He did have a funny look on his face. “That’s not what I had intended” lol. My guess is he flew back and slowly broke off every limb on that branch. What a hero!
Thank you Lyle, for inspiring Ron to go back and give this series the light of day. Ron, these are spectacular shots! Wow, talk about sticktoitiveness! His hard work is evident in the tips of his tail feathers. It is a definite testament to you that birds feel comfortable in continuing their regular routines because you take so much care to be unobtrusive.
I’d like to offer some nesting material, but the city finally came today to remove the tree debris (treebris?) — yay. Still waiting for the insurance adjuster to come look at the car, though.
Wow. And wow again.
However, despite his Herculean efforts, I am ALSO applauding his mate. In too many species (including ours?) the female takes on the vast majority of cleaning/childrearing responsibilities. I love that this female was able to watch, without the need to offer advice to be ignored/take over and ‘do it self’.
I am moved by this bird’s travails. Thank you.
As was I, Martha.
When we had a nesting pair in the gully behind our house I would sit and watch the construction or refurbishing of the nest. I was astonished to see the red tails break off living branches from the cottonwood trees.
I’ve never seen that, April. Usually they seem to just gather dead twigs from the ground.
I have a couple of photos, not the best, I’ll see if I can find them and send it on to you.
The fifth photo is determination personified: feet planted firmly, chest puffed out, nictitating membrane closed, wings pulled back. His teeth would be clenched if he had any.
I can empathize with the hawks dilemma. I don’t know how many times I’ve begun some seemingly easy, insignificant task that turned out to take way more effort and time than I anticipated and that really wasn’t worth the achieved result. But I’ve gone this far and damned if I’m not going to get it done. It’s just a guy thing. And the female is smart enough to know it and thats why she gets to perch and watch.
“His teeth would be clenched if he had any.”
That’s perfect, Lyle. I wish I’d thought to use that line in my post.
And you’re right. It’s often, maybe nearly always, “a guy thing”.
Well done, Ron! I’m exhausted just watching him!
Me too, Diane – especially on the day I was actually watching him.
Wonderful, wonderful sequence Ron! I’ve witnessed this sort of behavior with our campus hawks, but have not been able to capture as you have–well done! Fingers, toes and talons crossed that these birds have a successful nesting season ☺️
If success is dependent on effort they should do very well, Christine. Thank you.
This series is so fun to watch! That bird is inspiring – I wish I had some of his energy for “house-making”.
I wish I had some of his energy for ANYTHING, Joanne!
Excellent educational series Ron. It has always amazed me what these birds can do with just a beak, talons, and wings. No hands, axes, saws, and all the other aids we human builders have. Just yesterday I photographed a huge GHO’s nest and not far away a Common Black Hawk’s large nest in one of our riparian areas. When you look at the size of these nests built by birds of prey and think of all the trips it took to find, select, transport, and put into place these various materials it is truly remarkable.
Everett Sanborn, Prescott AZ
It sure is remarkable, Everett. Some of those nests are huge. Thank you.
Wonderful sequence, Ron…. 🙂 He’s going to be wore out before he ever has to be hauling grub to his family! 😉 I agree with Dick on it being special with just you, the truck, and the hawk – get to experience life as it is for the hawk rather than the hawk distracted by you and others…… 🙂 Horrible with Notre Dame burning……… 🙁
“He’s going to be wore out before he ever has to be hauling grub to his family”
Excellent point, Judy. He may get a bit of time during incubation to rest a little but when the chicks hatch he’ll be jumping from the frying pan into the fire.
Wow, Ron!! That is true determination by the male RTH!! God love him!! So glad you decided to share this series – great example of behaviors!!
Thank you, Jo Ann.
I think these images are fantastic! The fact that you are in a place where it is just you and the hawk sharing a relationship, you know, the truck and the hawk not intimidated by either you and the truck is a moment in time that is simply phenomenal! To record this is special!
Many thanks for sharing these pictures with us, it is greatly appreciated.
You get it, Dick. As usual when I’m photographing birds there was no one else around and that makes it special. I don’t do photography in crowds well…
Wonderful capture of an amazing event. Congrats!
Thank you, Rick.