Hard work and a stubborn streak eventually paid off when the male of the pair went looking for suitable nest-building materials.
- These photos are intended as documentation of interesting behavior rather than as examples of technically excellent images. I was dealing with a less than ideal light angle so in some of them I don’t have a catch light in the eye and in others the hawk had his back to me. This series of twelve photos was taken five days ago in northern Utah.
Blog followers will likely recognize this first photo because I posted it three days ago. I’m using it again to provide continuity.
I’d spent a long time with the mated pair of Red-tailed Hawks as they basked in the early morning sun near their nest. Here both birds are finally beginning to become active again. The larger female is stretching her left wing as the male begins to look for nesting material below him and on a rocky slope out of frame to the left.
Eventually he spotted a twig on the rocky slope that was a potential candidate for suitable nesting material so he….
took off after it.
But the dead stem of a bush was still rooted in the ground so it wasn’t about to submit easily (I’ve cropped this photo to include the hawk’s entire shadow – if felt like amputation to cut it off). He struggled and tugged in an effort to…
get it out of the ground. And then he struggled some more but that little stick wasn’t about to submit easily so eventually he…
just gave up. Here we can’t see the twig because his body is blocking it but…
when he walked away from it the stick became visible.
Now he had to look for something else.
So he made a short flight to another part of the rocky slope and eyed this small but still green and growing sagebrush. Perhaps he thought that since it was still green it might be easier to break off a piece. That would be his only choice since it was still anchored to the ground and there weren’t any appropriate twigs or stems nearby that were unattached and available.
Once again it was very hard work and at first I thought he’d bitten off more than he could chew. He kept tugging away at the sagebrush using his wings to provide more pulling power but it was all in vain for long enough that I thought he’d have to abandon his efforts a second time.
But he had a stubborn streak so he was tenacious for long enough to eventually…
break off a piece of the sagebrush.
Then with the sage in his beak he looked directly at the nest. I thought he’d…
fly straight to it but instead he landed on top of a bush, using it as an intermediate stop before he took off again for the nest. He had his back to me when he landed in the bush so I’m not including any of those photos.
Here he’s on his way to the nest with the piece of sage still in his beak.
When I look at their nest and see how many twigs and sticks it’s made of and think of how much work was required to construct it I become thoroughly exhausted by proxy.
Ron
Seeing him with his sprig of sage made me wonder about images of eagles with laurel or olive branches. I wonder if those images were inspired by watching an eagle do something like this.
Seems plausible to me, Pam.
What a wonderful photo story. These photos show the magnificence of this powerful hawk. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you, Mary.
Ron, it looks like both of us live up to our Taurean birth sign — I have quite the stubborn streak and also used to clash (hard and often) with my mom because we were so much alike.
Love all of these shots today. Is Papa missing a primary or two? I think my favorite shot of the series (you’ve made it quite difficult to pick just one!) is the 3rd from the bottom. I feel like he’s triumphantly holding up the piece of sagebrush to show his mate. “See what I did, Honey!”
Something else we have in common, Marty.
Yes, he’s missing a fair number of primaries.
He put his beak to that ol’ grindstone, didn’t he. 😀
Sure did.
My father often told me I was more stubborn than stains. I wonder what he would have said about this Red-tail. Yet another outstanding series. I am very grateful you didn’t amputate the shadow and love the term fluffy-butt.
EC, I was known for my stubbornness, especially as a teenager. My mother and I often clashed and my dad (and others) said it was because the two of us were so much alike in that regard.
It must have been a dominant gene on my mother’s side… 🙂
I got mine from both sides – which made for some firey interactions. I am quiet about it than they (particularly my father) were, but it is still emphatically there. Though I will give ground occasionally which they didn’t.
What a great series—I chuckled almost the entire way through, though I felt kinda sorry for poor Dad-to-be having to struggle so much for so little reward. I’d guess he’s putting in a good 40-hour work week on that nest!
I love these images — “technical excellence” be damned — especially the second “butt shot” with all the shadow, making him look quite enormous! And, of course, the lift-off shot with wings up, on tippy-talons and sage safely in beak, ready to go! What a dad.
Glad you like them, Chris. And I agree, it’s likely he’ll make a great papa.
I hope the missus appreciates the work it took to get that sprig. More likely she’ll be saying “At this rate I’ll be incubating on rocks.”
Love the fluffybutt shots.
Lyle, the missus spends less time taking nesting material to the nest and more time arranging things in it. A lot of work for them both.
Ha! Fluffybutt … not very noble for such a fine hawk, but appropriate in this case.
“Fluffybutt” made me laugh out loud — thank you!
Nest building is so interesting and fun to watch. I finally saw a hummingbird nest on the trail below an eagle nest ❗️ A lot of work goes into the both of them whether your a little or big bird. And yay… so many red tail hawks for us this year 😁
“Nest building is so interesting and fun to watch”
Agreed, Diana – no matter the species.
Interesting post as always. We think they work hard, but it is a simple life. Build the nest, raise the kids till maturity, kill and eat, and defend your territory. Don’t have to file taxes, shovel snow, get a masters degree, work out at the gym, read the news, entertain your in-laws, go shopping, go to the dentist, or go out on freezing cold mornings to take bird photos. And they don’t care who the President is, what the Chinese are doing, or whether you got your vaccine or not.
It all depends on your perspective, doesn’t it, Everett.
Outstanding series with a great story. Your captions and explanations add so much to your photography!
Much appreciated, Bob. Writing my “explanations” takes almost as much effort as getting the photos… 🙂 But I enjoy doing both.
WOW! Would not expect him to expend that much energy for such a small pay-off! Guess it takes what it takes to get what he wanted…..😀 Interesting and fun series, Ron.😀
Thanks, Judy. We may never know what motivates some birds to put so much effort into getting a particular nesting material. Perhaps sage in the nest keeps insects down… who knows?
The nest will smell like sage! Nice touch 🙂
Yup.