[mou] Cooper's Hawk nest building

[Thomas Maiello]

Am gifted with the delight of having my local neighborhood Cooper's  
Hawk selecting a nesting site right outside my bedroom window.  Not  
exactly easy viewing but readily viewed.  It selected a site at the up  
in a tree where the trunk splits into three branches straight up.  It  
has been furiously flying tree to tree breaking of - first smaller  
sticks - and then larger sticks.  Fascinating watching the process of  
selecting the sticks and how the variously sized sticks are broken  
free.  For the larger, it uses its entire body for leverage and swings  
nearly upside down, tail and wings extended.  It seems like it is  
expecting the sticks to snap off and when they don't, it gives it  
another couple of tries and flies to a another branch to reconnoiter  
what to do next.  There has been a lot of flying up and down, swooping  
into the nest site for a moment or two of placement and then more  
swooping about.  The more material that gets places, the longer it  
takes to set the next stick, then a quick placement of a couple and  
then a longer stay at the nest apparently for construction or  
engineering detail.  I can't see into the nest itself from my window  
but have a upward angle view that lets me see most of the bird as it  
works.

Fascinating.  And no good camera to document.  Bummer.  When is my  
birthday, anyway?

I guess the birds at my feeders will need to be a bit more wary in the  
future.

Thomas Maiello
Angel Environmental Management, Inc.
Maple Grove, MN