![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/ferruginous-hawk-0264c-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"ferruginous-hawk-0264c-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nAnd both of them were in or very\u00a0near Montana’s Centennial Valley. I’ll bet some of my readers already know what species constructed them.<\/p>\n
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Yup, they were Ferruginous Hawk nests. First a\u00a0look at the species responsible for such impressive nest\u00a0construction.<\/p>\n
They’re the largest buteo in North America. Just look how deep-chested and robust this one is, even\u00a0stretched out like this. The renowned ornithologist Arthur Cleveland Bent described them as a\u00a0“splendid hawk, the largest, most powerful, and grandest of our buteos, a truly regal bird”. Those intimately familiar with them often compare them to Golden Eagles. Both species have feathered tarsi, build huge nests, lay eggs that are quite similar and their voice, flight, behavior and food habits are much alike.<\/p>\n
Believe me, this is one impressive hawk.<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/ferruginous-hawk-8141-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"ferruginous-hawk-8141-ron-dudley\\"")
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I’ve followed both of these nests for several years and they’re absolutely huge. They sometimes build on top of an old nest and this one must have been used for generations. Some of these branches are very large and historically this species often used bison bones in their nest construction when they were available (pronghorn bones too). Because of the placement of the nest against the side of a mountain I could never get anything but sidelight on it for my photos and that made for some pretty contrasty images but… you get the picture.<\/p>\n
This is a very large bird but the nest still looks huge by comparison. Yes, I know I’m overusing that ‘huge’ word but no other one seems to do the situation justice.<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/ferruginous-hawk-7029-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"ferruginous-hawk-7029-ron-dudley\\"")
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Here’s the same nest 10 days earlier\u00a0– photo taken\u00a0 from a much different angle, at a different time of day and in more subdued light. They apparently made a lot of modifications to the nest in those 10 days, both up top and to the sides, because you have to look carefully to tell it’s the same nest. I suspect those fierce Montana winds have made a difference too. There were actually\u00a0three chicks in the nest but this shot shows only two of them.<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/ferruginous-hawk-8086-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"ferruginous-hawk-8086-ron-dudley\\"")
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Here’s another Ferruginous Hawk nest perhaps 5-6 miles west of the previous one and just\u00a0outside the confines of the valley.<\/p>\n
This one is occupied by a dark morph Ferrug and it’s a very large nest also. The previous nest was built at the base of a\u00a0partially-dead\u00a0large shrub but this one was built directly on the rocks on the side of a small mountain. Before the settling of the west this species often nested on elevated ground but in modern times they’re more likely to nest in trees or shrubs.<\/p>\n
Over the years I’ve seen a\u00a0good number\u00a0of Ferruginous Hawk nests. Many of them\u00a0were in Montana in either the southwest or northwest parts of the state and these two were the largest of the bunch. Even considering their large size the species builds an unusually\u00a0massive nest because they often reuse nests for many years and as many as five large\u00a0chicks must be able to lie flat in them when strong winds blow.<\/p>\n
Ron<\/p>\n
Note: Ferruginous Hawks are unusually sensitive to nest encroachment by humans\u00a0and it\u00a0goes without saying that I never approached these nests closely. I always stayed inside my pickup on the road and I was photographing them at an effective 1120mm.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" And both of them were in or very near Montana’s Centennial Valley. I’ll bet some of my readers already know what species constructed them.<\/p>\n