Day 18.119: Hawk-watch update

Our broad-winged hawks are nesting. We've seen one (presumably the female) almost constantly on the nest for the last few days. It's not clear whether the other times are when she takes a brief break or just beds down out of our sightline.

The nest - often just the adult's head is visible lower than in this shot. This is with my long lens, but we've mostly been using the spotting scope to get our view.

One day, recently I saw the other one (presumably the male) swoop into a nearby branch and went out to see if I could get a good view.

 I noticed he was pecking at something so I moved to get a clearer view. It looks like one of our gray squirrels was the meal this time.

After this, he picked up the remainder and carried it up to the nest. Apparently the eggs take about a month to incubate. I'm almost sure we'll lose our view of the nest to leaves long before then, but good to see this part of the process.